How to become a Freethinker
Warning: Becoming a Freethinker is not something to be taken lightly, it is as world shattering as when Neo took the red pill in The Matrix, you will forever look at the world in a completely new way and others will distance themselves from you as they have not been "unplugged".
The intent of this writing is not to rewrite what has already been written (Freethinking goes back thousands of years) but to introduce you to some of the more prominent methods of Freethought.
First, turn off the TV and the radio, you will know when you are ready to turn them back on and when you do, you will see them in a completely new light. Television and radio are all owned by a few families and they are not to be trusted, people are easily manipulated by these forms of media. Those forms of communication center on the first brain (also known as the Crocodile Brain), where our need to follow leaders and aggression come from.
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Next step and by far the most difficult step will be learning how to pick apart what you are reading. You can do this by studying Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit (https://www.brainpickings.org/2014/01/03/baloney-detection-kit-carl-sagan/). If you are a religious type and believe Science and Scientists to be bad, this will be your first test. You cannot become a Freethinker if you reject Science! Many people have a misconception about what Science is so let me explain what it is and is not. Science is for all intents and purposes, understanding the universe in which we live. That's it, nothing mystical about it! Let me give you a few examples:
- The first time man decided cooking meat using fire was more tasty (and safer) than eating raw meat, he was using Chemistry.
- The first time man found that a round wheel worked far better than other shapes, he was using Physics.
- For a more modern example, your car, it is completely based on Science, from the materials which make it up, to the fuel used in an explosive combustion (inside the engine, Chemistry) which is used to propel the vehicle forward (Physics).
Science is not a belief system, many Scientists are religious or spiritual so don't believe the propaganda which is being used to deceive you.
After you have studied and understand what to look for, read, read more and read everything. Interested in a topic, search on it, read from many different sites. Do not read material that only backs up your worldview! You must read from every source and get your information from opposing points of view. You WILL find yourself getting angry! This is normal, your brain is hard wired to protect its sense of reality, it is called Cognitive Dissonance. When you find you are becoming emotional, stop, take a break, relax, once you are relaxed, get back to it. Think about what you are reading and what might the writer be using to influence you? What might the writer be motivated by? Is the writer being paid for this or doing it to protect his or her place in society?
Systems thinking
Another very beneficial way of thinking is called Systems or Systemic Thinking. With Systems Thinking, localized thinking is rejected in pursuit of the root causes. For example; a woman has an abortion. First thing that may come to some minds is that abortion should be made illegal but what is not looked at is the underlying systemic root cause. No one bothers to look deeper, if they did, they would find that the child has been found to have a very serious birth defect and would not survive long after birth, living a painful existence in the meantime.
https://thesystemsthinker.com/systems-thinking-what-why-when-where-and-how/
What is important to Freethinkers is finding the truth and this can take a lot of work, intellectual laziness is not an attribute of a good Freethinker but once you become one, you will see the world in an entirely new light.
This document is a living document and will be updated as new information becomes available so check back regularly for updates.
