How would you know if you have been brainwashed?

define: brainwash |ˈbrānˌwôSH,ˈbrānˌwäSH | verb.

-to make someone believe ideas through systematic and often forcible pressure

I have always found the question, “how would you know if you have been brainwashed?” to be a truly fascinating one. Probably because the actual answer is so clear yet also so magnificently uncommon: be skeptical, investigate.

The answer is obvious — we need to question and investigate our beliefs if we want to eliminate false beliefs. Simple. Furthermore, we need a high standard of evidence to filter our beliefs. Hopefully this point is self-evident. To be clear, the best (highest) standard we have for determining what is fact vs. fiction is the scientific method.

Clearly, this is not what we find in the world…

The vast majority of people will believe exactly what their parents and society believe and will never sincerely question their beliefs. Worse yet, there are massive systems of indoctrination that ensure children will believe what the rest of society believes. Most religions will even present eternal punishment for non-believers in the form of a hell. If we are honest, this is not a path to Truth. If we are honest, this is a very immoral path to normalize brainwashing. Despite the fact that there are 1000’s of different gods and religions to choose from, the vast majority of people will take the god and religion that already exists within their childhood household. Most people selfishly grow up believing that the one true god is the one that they were already indoctrinated with as a child. What a remarkable coincidence… it’s a miracle!!! (sigh.)

All gods cannot be Real, but they all can be false.

What is the difference between a religion and a cult?

In any given time and place, religion is essentially the term applied to the biggest cult. Plain and simple. Both show all the symptoms of brainwashing: systematic and forcible pressure to maintain belief.

The fundamental problem with being brainwashed is that it maintains false beliefs about Reality. This causes our internal model of reality to conflict with Reality itself. This causes us to misappropriate our interactions with our environment and each other. This fundamentally causes harm.

How do you decide if you are wrong?

This is a massively important and fundamental question that gets shit on over and over again in our world. Truth is the objective standard for morality. No amount of investigation can harm the Truth.

Please stop shitting on this question and please take it seriously. Thanks