Your beliefs will influence what you know to be true. Things are the way they are.
It’s our:
- cognitive biases
- judgments
- opinions
- unconscious thought patterns
- cultural influences
that turns them into our perceptions of the truth.
There are 3 sides to every story. One side, the other side, and the truth in between. Which is a combination of both. The more you can remove these distortions on the lense of reality, the more clearly you can see.
I Like Jason Silva’s take on it. He says:
“Collect ideas not beliefs. Some of them can even contradict each other but that’s okay because I don’t have to believe any of them. I can just entertain their feasibility and find them interesting. The problem with beliefs is that if you hold onto one belief, you knock offline…any other belief that contradicts that particular belief. So if you get too stuck with your beliefs you narrow your world view and you narrow your critical thinking.”
Critical Thinking – Definition
- The process of actively and skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion.
- Disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence.
Having this open-minded approach will also help you when receiving data from others.
4 things to consider:
Is the one presenting the evidence a critical thinker?
What is their motive for presenting this evidence?
Are more critical thinkers saying more or less the same things?
What is your intuition telling you about what they are saying?
It’s also a good idea to stay nonpartisan. Listen to all sides of the narrative. What you may think is true may not be true for others. It depends on your vantage point.
It’s also best to conduct your own research with the most up to date and unbiased data you can find.
When you have reached a conclusion remember, your truth may not be the truth for others.
Try to:
Have discussions not arguments.
See what is right not who is right.
Share ideas not opinions.
Seek to educate not depreciate.
In this way, you will both see more clearly. In the end, you may still have a different point of view and that’s ok. The real truth exists regardless of our beliefs. What matters is that you both know a little bit more than you did before.
Have you found this article helpful? I would love to hear your thoughts. Please comment below.
