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Thinking in knots

One time I was talking to a person about God. I asked him where he stood on the subject, and I heard one of the most interesting things I've ever heard from a person's mouth.

He said, as a freshman in college in his second semester, that he had never thought about it. Only a recently had he become conscious and start thinking about such questions.

Huh.

I realize he could have just been messing with me and was just saying whatever. I know. But he earnestly explained his journey towards consciousness and professed addiction towards things that could have been obstacles to it. Additionally, I have my own belief doubting everyone and everything isnt a way to live.

So I took him at his word.

Regardless, it strengthened an idea I hold pretty dear. That everyone needs take time, sit down, and think deeply about things. About anything will do. It doesn't have to be very serious, performative, or serve to stroke your ego. Just flesh out your worldview, ensure you actually believe what you believe, and build clarity.

I have always thought of this like sitting down with a huge ball of string, strands wrapped and knotted endlessly around each other. A huge Gideon's knot. Then just picking at it. Pulling at knots until they come loose, following what you pulled loose into the next web of knots. Continuing to unravel, working towards the single strand, toward knotless and straight. Until you can the entire straight thing. All knots of biases and errors removed from the line of thought.

I argue doing this by yourself, completely and carefully for each of your beliefs and ideas. Seeing the surface idea, supporting concepts, and the root for why you have it. I think a lot of the weird, reactive, and emotional beliefs that exist today exist because they're standing on a foundation that doesn't have any real substance. This is because the foundation is riddled with knots of shallow ideas.

Its much easier to just pick up a stance someone recites to you on social media and run with it. To carry it as a heuristic because you think you can trust the talking head who gave it to you. Finding an idea that way is fine but you should really evaluate it yourself to test its worth.

I just say all this to push people to run away from apathy towards knowledge in important topics. I just find it scary people have shallow understandings of ideas with monumental global effects. You don't have to make deep and cosmological introspection your personality and impose it, but just make sure you have an idea what you are talking about.