Dec 04, 2020

You don't have to be informed

I am of the opinion that you shouldn’t allow yourself to be exposed to certain ideas. I used to believe that the intelligent individual is one who is open-minded and seeking truth but I’m not sure about that anymore.

I’m not saying that we should censor any ideas. All ideas should be on the table. But as individuals, we should be careful about what ideas we allow ourselves to absorb. You should treat ideas like a virus with varying symptoms—some positive and some negative. The question is which ideas should be ignored?

Anything that makes you feel insignificant or powerless? Yep.

Nihilistic or cynical thoughts? These are useless perspectives.

What about the news? I don’t know a single well-informed individual doing anything great with that knowledge. But I do know well-informed individuals who are incredibly anxious and angry—especially now, when the news is so clearly biased no matter where you get it from.

Facts that are known to be true? Some of them. Beliefs are more important than facts. Anyone who has heard of the placebo effect knows this. A sugar pill should not be capable of making your hair grow back but if you believe it can, then it can.

You should be careful with the ideas you entertain. More knowledge is not necessarily better. You only need to pay attention to what can help you be more useful to those you serve.