How much of what you believe would you still believe if no one taught it to you?

[Anomalism]

Strip away your parents, your social circles, your favorite authors and podcasts. What survives? Most people mistake inheritance for insight. But if you never chose it; if you never bled for it, doubted it, broke it apart and put it back together, it isn’t really yours. It's mimicry, passed off as conviction. That doesn’t mean everything taught is false. It means unexamined belief is indistinguishable from programming. Ask yourself: if you were born somewhere else, with different heroes and a different flag, would you still believe what you do now? If not, are you sure it’s truth, or just loyalty? The only beliefs worth keeping are the ones that survive interrogation.

 

[TemplarKormac]

If people don't teach you, the world will teach you. In the most grueling and painful manner possible.

 

[Anomalism]

If people don't teach you, the world will teach you. In the most grueling and painful manner possible.

Certainly.

That doesn't answer the question though.

 

[TemplarKormac]

Certainly.

That doesn't answer the question though.

Why not?

Naturally, the answer will be "none of it."

But what you don't learn from any of those sources, you will learn from what the rest of the world offers you.

 

[Anomalism]

Why not?

Naturally, the answer will be "none of it."

But what you don't learn from any of those sources, you will learn from what the rest of the world offers you.

Do you think you would have come to the same conclusions if nobody had taught you?

 

[TemplarKormac]

Do you think you would have come to the same conclusions if nobody had taught you?

If nobody taught me, then I would have to inevitably learn on my own.

And no, I doubt it.

 

[Anomalism]

And no, I doubt it.

What does that mean? What are the ramifications of that insight? Does that mean that what you were taught is not accurate, or does it mean what you would have come to on your own is inaccurate? Is it somewhere in between?

Is it possible that some of your opinions are simply the product of inheritance, and that if nobody had told you what to think, you'd be somewhere else?

 

[JOSweetHeart]

If people don't teach you, the world will teach you. In the most grueling and painful manner possible.

I second this. This is where the old saying "It takes a village..." comes in. If you don't learn things from your family, the remainder of the planet will fill in the empty blanks.

God bless you always!!!

Holly

 

[TemplarKormac]

What does that mean? What are the ramifications of that insight? Does that mean that what you were taught is not accurate, or does it mean what you would have come to on your own is inaccurate? Is it somewhere in between?

Is it possible that some of your opinions are simply the product of inheritance?

What a person learns from others varies. What a person learns from the world is consistent.

I discover a lot of things I learned from other people are inaccurate. That's why I teach myself, before the world does.

 

[Anomalism]

What a person learns from others varies. What a person learns from the world is consistent.

I discover a lot of things I learned from other people are inaccurate. That's why I teach myself, before the world does.

Who do you think you'd be if nobody had ever told you what to think?

 

[TemplarKormac]

Who do you think you'd be if nobody had ever told you what to think?

A psychopath.

 

[Anomalism]

A psychopath.

Interesting. So you see your social and moral teachings as the foundation preventing that? Do you think there’s a true self underneath all that structure, or is the self inherently shaped by those external rules?

 

[TemplarKormac]

So you see your social and moral teachings as the foundation preventing that? Do you think there’s a true self underneath all that structure, or is the self inherently shaped by those external rules?

That's a hard set of questions to answer.

I think it is a combination of structure provided by my upbringing and structure brought on by what I've taught myself.

But as for there being a 'true self,' I think that's more a goal than a state of being. I doubt I've attained it.

 

[Leo123]

Strip away your parents, your social circles, your favorite authors and podcasts. What survives? Most people mistake inheritance for insight. But if you never chose it; if you never bled for it, doubted it, broke it apart and put it back together, it isn’t really yours. It's mimicry, passed off as conviction. That doesn’t mean everything taught is false. It means unexamined belief is indistinguishable from programming. Ask yourself: if you were born somewhere else, with different heroes and a different flag, would you still believe what you do now? If not, are you sure it’s truth, or just loyalty? The only beliefs worth keeping are the ones that survive interrogation.

What survives is presence and then awareness of presence. Non-judgemental existence. An awakening of sorts. Oh. you will still have all that other stuff but it will not cause emotional pain.

 

[Anomalism]

That's a hard set of questions to answer.

I think it is a combination of structure provided by my upbringing and structure brought on by what I've taught myself.

But as for there being a 'true self,' I think that's more a goal than a state of being. I doubt I've attained it.

So it sounds like the self isn’t something fixed inside us but more of an evolving structure shaped by everything we’ve absorbed and learned. If that’s true, then how much of what we think of as our core identity is actually just reflection or adaptation of what’s been imposed or inherited?

 

[Anomalism]

What survives is presence and then awareness of presence. Non-judgemental existence. An awakening of sorts. Oh. you will still have all that other stuff but it will not cause emotional pain.

How many of us can truly access that non-judgmental presence without first untangling all the inherited narratives and assumptions we carry?

 

[TemplarKormac]

If that’s true, then how much of what we think of as our core identity is actually just reflection or adaptation of what’s been imposed or inherited?

That, my friend, is the question.

I don't believe anyone has an accurate gauge of how much their core identity has been imposed upon or inherited.

 

[TemplarKormac]

So it sounds like the self isn’t something fixed inside us but more of an evolving structure shaped by everything we’ve absorbed and learned.

That's what I think, at least. Yes.

 

[Anomalism]

That, my friend, is the question.

I don't believe anyone has an accurate gauge of how much their core identity has been imposed upon or inherited.

Exactly. It’s almost impossible to measure how much of us is truly original versus shaped by external forces. Recognizing that uncertainty is powerful in itself though. It invites us to question and peel back layers, rather than accept inherited beliefs and identities as fixed truths.

Maybe the real work, and freedom, comes from actively choosing which parts of our identity to keep, reshape, or discard, instead of unconsciously carrying forward what was handed to us. It’s not about fully knowing who we are right now, but about embracing the process of becoming with intentionality.

 

[TemplarKormac]

Exactly. It’s almost impossible to measure how much of us is truly original versus shaped by external forces. Recognizing that uncertainty is powerful in itself though. It invites us to question and peel back layers, rather than accept inherited beliefs and identities as fixed truths.

Agreed. Wholeheartedly.