Destroying Illusions

What were my illusions?

• Things would just come to me without doing the work.
• That doing the work would automatically bring success.
• That “success” would make all my problems go away.

What are some common illusions?

• The government has you in their best interest.
• Corporations are more interested in taking care of their employees than making money.
• Food labelled as healthy is actually good for you (sometimes this is not the case).
• Pharmaceutical companies are interested in getting you healthy.

Truth vs. Tribe

Sometimes the truth hurts. It shakes us to the core and challenges our previously held beliefs. Sometimes the tribes we belong to become more important than the truth. We see this in politics, in nutrition and health, and even in religion where the sacred can become profane. A good example were the poor souls who drank the Kool-Aid. Another example would be the cures nature has provided for us being touted as evil and made illegal only to be replaced by synthetic drugs designed to mask our symptoms and keep us unhealthy.

Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed. Friedrich Nietzsche

Friedrich Nietzsche

Make no mistake, I am not saying everything we have been told is a lie. I am not saying every tribe is corrupt or every belief system we subscribe to is flawed. But we owe it to ourselves to look at everything with a critical eye and not accept it on blind faith. We must do the research. We must be willing to dig down and search for the truth. And if the truth shatters our illusions, then we will be one step closer to freedom.

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Feature photo by Randy Jacob on Unsplash