All my life, I have been told by one system or another that I had to do something exactly a certain way or it's "wrong" or "not good enough." If I had allowed myself to believe these systems, I would never be where I am today.
I am allergic to oppressive systems that want to limit my creativity and dictate what I can and cannot think, say, or do.
Today's article is on how to avoid being indoctrinated, brainwashed, gaslighted, and manipulated into serving other systems' selfish purposes.
Sick systems create mental illness. The goal for each person is to live in alignment with their true path and purpose. How do we maintain our intellectual freedom in the face of these powerful, manipulative forces?
Read on for some of my reflections on this important matter. Have a wonderful week.
Protecting Our Intellectual Freedom
How to avoid indoctrination, brainwashing, and gaslighting
Believe it or not, all my life I have lived in very exacting, limiting, and controlling social and intellectual systems, such as:
1) Personal family system
2) Traditional Chinese culture
3) Mormon religion (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints)
4) Bountiful, Utah's racial homogeneity
5) Stereotyping of women and their roles
6) Stereotyping of race
7) Conventional medicine
8) Holistic medicine
Because of my experiences, I prize intellectual freedom greatly and protect it however and whenever I can. Sometimes I succeed and sometimes I lose. When I lose, I lose a part of my true self.
I grew up under authoritarian and controlling parents who tried to do their best to raise me so that I would become the "perfect" daughter. During this time, I experienced many boundary violations and abuses. From my parents' perspective, it was all done out of love. I spent many years healing myself from dysfunctional family dynamics.
Intellectual freedom comes at a price. It takes courage and grit. We may have to fight for it in the most unexpected places. How do we protect ourselves from those who want to steal our mind's free will? We begin by recognizing it when it happens, and then by removing or overcoming it.
Of course, there are countless ways that our intellectual freedom can be stolen—subtly, like removing one cell layer of skin at a time. You will hardly notice when it's happening. How does it begin?
The system that wants to take our intellectual freedom will begin by telling us lies that relieve us of our responsibilities, shifting those responsibilities to another. Now we don't have to think for ourselves—someone else knows better. We're told that it's best to leave our qualms behind and let another tell us what to do.
Projection and externalization of our problems to another source feel good, but as we lessen our awareness and willingness to shoulder our personal responsibilities, we lose intellectual freedom. Freedom and responsibility are two sides of the same coin. You cannot have one without the other.
The truth is that no one knows how to live your life for you any better than you do.
Shame, guilt, rejection, and threats are often used to remove people's intellectual freedom. Irrational fears of reprisals, suffering, and punishment are created to suppress us if we do not do what we are told.
Whether suffering will occur during or after this life, we are told that if we stray from the path of the system, we will regret it. We will be publicly shamed. We will be pariahs among those we esteem.
This approach is often used by fanatical systems that feel threatened by our choices or world view. Avoid systems that dictate what you can wear, eat, think, do, and be.
Sure, it feels good to have these systems decide for us. It may feel safer that way, rather than using our own intellectual abilities to judge what is best for us. But if we allow another system, no matter how well-meaning, to dictate how to live our lives, we are abdicating the most precious and divine quality we have: freedom.
Why does God, the all-powerful creator, allow evil and suffering to exist in this world?
Would we prefer God to stop us mid-sentence or mid-stride and force us to do what is "right?" From what I observe, preserving intellectual freedom is more important than the consequences we suffer from making mistakes. That is the price of freedom.
In order to remain free, we must be willing to make common mistakes that come from exercising the freedom to be "you." It'll hurt in all sorts of ways, but in time we will be able to shoulder both our responsibilities and our freedoms with greater ease. When we do, we will be given more freedom (and more responsibilities), magnifying our power along our authentic paths.
When it comes to indoctrination, brainwashing, and gaslighting, they have one quality in common: destroying the person and replacing their true/authentic thoughts and beliefs with something false. In order to do that, the person has to doubt their own worthiness and judgment. The wholesale release of intellectual freedom happens over time as we subjugate ourselves to another.
For many of us, Patrick Henry's famous phrase, "give me liberty or give me death," expresses how we value freedom because freedom is the very backbone of life. Without it, how can we walk down our lives' path?
Thank you for reading and have a safe week.