Yes. You are brainwashed. So am I. The question is to what extent?
When Eve gave Adam the forbidden fruit, they simply became aware of a world beyond what they had ever envisioned.
And in order for you to gain a level of understanding beyond what you currently have, you will have to partake of the forbidden fruit.
You will have to digest some information, experiences, and pain that you don’t want to.
And it will absolutely be painful. The more painful it is, the more you will learn.
And you will skip into another dimension and be in awe of a world that you have never conceived.
And it will circumference everything you thought you knew in a way that will bring you so much joy.
But Only ONLY ONLY if you are willing to experience, digest, and face the pain. The mental pain. The mind hacking pain that most people cannot bear.
The consideration that everything you know could be wrong.
Do that or stay brainwashed. It’s your choice.
Five Signs You Are Brainwashed
- 1. Do you mock people who think differently than you do?
- 2. You feel uncomfortable and angry when someone says something opposite your beliefs.
- 3. You consider someone else’s guidance more valuable than your own critical thinking.
- 4. Are you unwilling to navigate, investigate, and be intrigued by people outside the circumference of the people you know?
- 5. Does anyone one person have more control over your life decisions than you do?
These are five good indicators that you are brainwashed. And chances are you perceive the world in one way or another that is holding you back from progressing and fulfilling your true potential.
Mocking
We all mock each other a little and maybe that is good.
When I was in the FLDS I remember mocking individual “gentiles” and “apostates” and laughing boisterously. All in good fun.
But here is the kicker. If someone mocked us in a similar way we got upset and considered them a serious enemy.
As I was in the process of leaving the FLDS, I would find other people’s mocking statements about apostates less and less funny.
Because inside I was beginning to agree with the other side. And so I didn’t laugh so hard when people would mock them.
I still mock people and I know people mock me.
Understand that people need common ground, especially when they are uneasy about themselves. And mocking others is one of the easiest ways to find that.
If you are mocking everyone except your small group, reconsider that everyone else is really that weird, and possibly it is you that has odd beliefs and doesn’t take the time to consider and think critically about the other persons views.
And it’s okay to mock a little. I do it too.
It’s “Revolting”
I had a sister that started dressing “normal”, scrapped her prairie dresses and was wearing some updated options like jeans.
She told me about this experience she had afterwards, and I was really intrigued.
Some FLDS family came to see her. When they saw her like that it made them “sick.”
It disgusted them. They see people dressed like that all the time but they just consider them “gentiles.”
So here is what I told myself back then, and I tell everyone now: When anything can surprise you with a “revolting” feeling, understand that your spirit, mind, and emotions are unfamiliar with it.
The reason I say this is because I had a thousand exposures like this in my process of leaving the FLDS. I would feel “revolted.” Over time and familiarity I would often find that those same things brought me peace as I became more familiar with them.
Avoid assuming you are being led by God in these revolting moments.
Bring yourself to fully comprehend the situation, why you had those feelings, and if you really comprehend what is happening.
Dad Knows Best
When you are 5 he most likely does. Maybe.
But when you are 18, ask yourself if you or someone else is calling the shots in your life.
Do you decide where to live? What you do for work?
I am not influencing you from your parents. But you have relied on others so long for your decisions.
When I was 5-22 years old, my entire identity was what my dad thought of me. What my brothers thought of me. What the family thought of me.
I didn’t make decisions based on if it was the right thing for me or for our community.
Instead, everything ran through a decision process: will I be accepted if I do this or that.
And that was so hard wired I am still working it over right now.
I want to get to a point where every decision I make is never influenced by what other people are going to think about me.
Brainwashed is when you do it subconsciously. That is how it was for me. Growing up it was my whole reward structure.
Do you make decisions based on what others think consciously or subconsciously?
I Am Too Uncomfortable
To go do anything outside your usual friends and acquaintances.
Or worse yet, it is wrong to do so.
Your brain is brainwashed about that. And sorry, thats just how it is.
I will be working on this one for awhile.
One of the worst days of my life was when my dad sent me out to work for an FLDS company. Worst month to be clear.
I could not stand all the new people and acquaintances. I would have paid all my life and more to my dad daily to avoid those days.
But looking back that pain was by far the best possible thing I could have ever had happen.
I just didn’t know it at the time.
And it’s the same for you. Often your pain is the best thing that could happen for you, but you can’t see it at the time.
Who Calls The Shots In Your Life?
When you get up tomorrow, who in your life could tell you to go do something different and you would do it?
Not your work. I am talking about your life.
It could be an individual, or all your friends. Just like we talked about before.
Let me put this differently.
Suppose you woke up tomorrow and every person you know didn’t exist. You were just imagining all this time that they did.
What would you do different? Would you feel more free to do whatever you wanted and chase your dreams?
If the answer is yes, you should get going, because maybe you are brainwashed, and those people actually don’t exist in the way you think they do.
Conclusion
Most people will go through life being who they are told to be, and punishing themselves for going after what their life mission is. The things they really want to do deep down inside will slide by undone.
Brainwashing is anything that keeps us from seeing a bigger picture. You could say that lack of growth in vision is the definition of brainwashing.
Many would disagree, and say that convincing someone of something harmful is the real definition of brainwashing.
My point is that all brainwashing, even if your beliefs are good, can lead to harmful brainwashing, keeping you from living a fulfilling life.
Often our friends and social life is a brainwashed existence where we crave approval and want to fit into society. That is the “good” brainwashing that holds most people back.
When we reach a point where no other persons opinions have an influence on our decisions, then we are not brainwashed in that sense.
And when we will consider the views of other people without feeling revolted, disgusted, or like they are weird, then we are on track to a free mind.
Letting go of our past beliefs is difficult, so much that most people would rather go through life assuming they are not at all brainwashed.
Uprooting axioms and reconsidering beliefs has been forged by honorable men who we can credit for all our conveniences today. Willing to think beyond the confines of limiting religions and societies.
Thank you for reading! You would also enjoy this article titled: Success Is Your Only Option
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