Beware of indoctrination

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Beware of indoctrination. It can do you big damage. What damage can it do you? It can destroy your judgment, your good sense, your common sense. And good common sense is the most important thing you have. Forfeit an arm, forfeit a leg, forfeit an eye, but don’t forfeit your good sense. Indoctrination can mess up your mind. It can muddle your thinking. You just won’t see things right in those areas affected by the indoctrination. For most people, once they become indoctrinated, they never become unindoctrinated. The indoctrination becomes essentially permanent. The mind becomes set. The mind that was initially pliable becomes solidified and calcified in the tenets and assumptions it was induced to believe. How can the process be reversed? The programmed mind becomes deprogrammed only through a long process of thought, examination and questioning — a process probably taking place over a period of years.

Question all things. Question everything you are told. Trust no one. Trust no authority. Not government. Not churches. Not teachers. Not preachers. Not the experts. No one. Accept nothing as true without careful examination and thought. Accept nothing that does not pass the test of reason and common sense. From basic assumptions, one arrives at conclusions through the process of reasoning. If any of the basic assumptions on which your mind is operating are wrong, the result will be that conclusions arrived at using the erroneous assumption may be in error.

If the mind accepts as fact some idea, it will automatically dismiss as untrue any idea that conflicts with it. Our mind operates on a set of assumptions on any particular topic. It just naturally and automatically rejects all ideas and concepts that conflict with those assumptions. If one of the assumptions is wrong, it may be blind, closed off, to the actual truth. It cannot find its way to truth, cannot see the truth. A wrong assumption is blocking it from seeing the truth.

The mind (a logical mind, at least) cannot believe as true two opposing ideas at the same time. It chooses what to believe.

Error in basic assumptions can end in self-deception, self-delusion. Self-delusion can lead to mental problems.

We all know about fanatics, blind followers of some political or religious system. The descriptive term “blind’ comes from their lack of perspective and balance, lack of common sense (their inability to see what is obvious to a well-balanced person with good sense).

Def. Indoctrinate. To instruct in doctrines, principles, or systems of belief; especially to teach (a person or persons) partisan or sectarian dogmas. Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary

Def. Doctrine. 1. That which is presented for acceptance or belief; teachings, as of a religious or political group. 2. A particular principle or tenet that is taught, or a body of such principles or tenets. Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary

Def. Doctrinaire. adj. Theoretical; visionary. Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary

Def. Dogma. 1. Theol. A doctrine or system of doctrine maintained by a religious body as true and necessary of belief. 2. A belief, principle, tenet, etc. more or less formally stated and held to be authoritative. Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary

Def. Dogmatic. 1. Of the nature of or pertaining to dogma. 2. Marked by authoritative, often arrogant, assertion of opinions or beliefs; positive, overbearing. Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary

Synonyms for indoctrinate: Teach, inculcate, instill, infuse, implant, imbue, infix.

Once basic tenets and assumptions become inculcated, or implanted, into the impressionable mind, they are not easily removed. So be sure that which is believed is indeed true.

Def. inculcate. To impress upon the mind by frequent repetition or forceful admonition; instill. Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary

Beware of oft repeated assertions and slogans! Repetition programs the mind.

We are not talking here about a phenomenon that affects a few people. We are talking about something that affects everyone. We are all programmed to varying degrees in many ways.

An example of this lies in the Islamic religion. The Islamic holy book, the Koran, teaches that Christianity and Judaism are false religions and it is the only true religion. Moslems have been programmed from childhood to believe this. Both Islam and Christianity cannot be true. One has to be false. Islam asserts that the claim of the Christians that Jesus was God are false, that he was simply another human. Either Jesus was of divine nature or he wasn’t. The entire New Testament is about this claim of Jesus. The claim is true or it isn’t. It represents an irreconcilable contradiction between Islam and Christianity.

Nov 2014