Who owns the news, the search engines and the emotional airwaves owns the hearts, minds and beliefs of an undiscriminating people.
When we as individuals unconditionally accept the definition of our reality from a single, current-day source—or group of like-minded sources—then we give away our power to think, discern and be independent.
Reality is not defined by a multiple-choice quiz, limited to the answers, talking points or soundbites provided by the leading ideologies of the day.
Our thinking should not be circumscribed by the easy, filtered information handed to us by someone else—by those who would frame our thinking for their own interests.
For truth is not subject to the fad of the day or public opinion. It is not served up on a menu of relative moral choices. It is not a matter of preference—or even subject to a good movement or cause.
In short, truth stands on its own. It is impartial. It is non-negotiable.
The search for truth begins as an individual and often lonely journey. Yet, truth continually draws unto itself those who ardently long for it, giving rise to a virtual community of individuals, linked by a common quest.
Whoever follows the herd of collective thinking, lives and dies with the herd. But never lives or thinks for oneself. Never really lives at all.
The pressure to choose sides and the need to belong are like powerful, addictive drugs. But their undue influence prevents us from doing what we—as free living beings—must do for ourselves. In whatever we are not willing to do for ourselves, we give power over ourselves to others.
We must never forfeit the power of engaging our brains when it comes to discovering what’s real and what’s not. What’s myth versus truth.
That is what our intellects were designed for: to know the truth.