Free Thinker ? What IS free thinking?

Freethinking, according to Wikipedia is:

"Freethought holds that individuals should neither accept nor reject ideas proposed as truth without recourse to knowledge and reason. Thus, freethinkers strive to build their beliefs on the basis of facts, scientific inquiry, what's gone by one's own eyes, and logical principles, independent of any factual/logical fallacies or intellectually-limiting effects of authority, cognitive bias, conventional wisdom, popular culture, prejudice, sectarianism, tradition, urban legend, and all other dogmatic or otherwise fallacious principles. As such, when applied to religion, the philosophy of freethought holds that, given presently-known facts, established scientific theories, and logical principles, there is insufficient evidence to support the existence of supernatural phenomena."

How many times have any of you heard someone say something, perhaps with a tone of authority... and you (maybe) take that to be truth without ever questioning the source or examining the facts?

We are so inundated with so much nonsense these days aren't we?

One person says something, we take it as truth, without ever discussing it and trying to find the truth of the matter. To me, it's about an old saying I've heard over and over again ... "there's one side, the other side and then the truth" (not exactly the phrase but you get the idea, right?).

I've always questioned everything and wanted to know why ... we take so many things as truths all the time, every day ... and then we repeat them as if we have no mind of our own.

If we find someone to agree with us, well! We're really batting a thousand aren't we?

What about ... realizing that what's real for another, like thier personal beliefs or what they heard doesn't have to be "real" for us?

Changing up how we see things around us and leaving room for things to be different?

My point is that, nothing in life is engraved in stone. Except maybe death... that's pretty final. Can't do much about that... but the time we have inbetween... so colored over by what other people say, think and/or do... people can walk around quite ... uninformed or misguided ...

I think this is especially true of things that we hear in the media, on fashion shows (what's hot what's not things) ... so many things it's too difficult to make a list that long... well, I could but I don't have all morning!

How about stuff that form beliefs... like ... after 50 you should just lie on the couch and do nothing?

After you retire you have no worth?

After you reach a certain age it's all down hill from there?

You must stay young looking and spend a kajillion dollars on all these products while the makers of these products make sure to touch on people's sense of self and how they look or how to prevent certain things?

What's hot and what's not?

What you should wear and what you should not wear.

You're too OLD for that. (oooh, good one)

The world is a bad place (turn on the news).

Everyone's out to get you.

There are no do gooders in the world today.

You must hate one kind of person because joe shmoe thinks you should.

You must have a particular lifestyle to be happy in life.

You must conform and think inside the box in order to make it anywhere.

Course, some things seem true...

But, what about the rest?

How about old school beliefs we may hold so dear?

What about it folks? Have any other examples of how people are inadvertently put into a box?

I'd like to hear them.

Sue T.
Emotional Awareness & Life Coach
Confidence is Silent. It need not defend itself. It Simply Exists Inside You.
http://www.dsisuet.com/