I’ve always been a loner, a maverick, a dissenter. This is the way to break free of the narrative of our society which seeks to blind us, and to bind us.
For me it started with raging against the unjust authority of my paternal father and teachers at school. At the time it was horrible, but it taught me a valuable lesson; that authority is given not taken, and that respect must be earned and cannot be assumed. Any other way is is bullying and disrespectful.
We move forward together through discussion and agreement, not by scamming and using propaganda. If you cannot sell your idea using above the table techniques, then this does not warrant using underhand methods to get your way.
Taking this approach to life opens you to the essence of many spiritual practices and religious thought. If you then choose to follow a set of rules (and you must to stay sane), you will start to see results.
At some point you will find that the written word of religious texts, and the actions of a congregation do not align, and then you may even discover that the scripture is no longer how it was originally written or intended by its authors.
Pop quiz hot shot, what do you do?
Two of the best things to learn in life are critical thinking, and puzzle solving. A career in programming helped me greatly and the practice of finding and fixing bugs in code, is the same technique that allows one to find truth and determine the errors in the presentations and thinking of mankind.
With these skills in your back pocket you can begin to puzzle out the nature of existence and fact check the things you have been taught, against your own reasoning and your own experiences. But you must trust yourself and have quiet confidence in your abilities, and so many do not after a lifetime of pressure to conform.
When you start analysing the world and it’s people you are on the right path, so keep going. What you will find as a result of this activity is astounding and also humbling, I won’t give it all away here and leave this post simply as encouragement to begin and support for those that already have started.