The Power of Free Thought

A child asks 100s of questions everyday

An adult asks less than 30

As children we are eager to learn more about our world and universe. We ask profound questions to which there are few answers but many theories.

But what happens when we reach adulthood?

Everything becomes the same.

No more questions

No more theories.

We’ll live in our own world, with our own problems.

We forget about the rush we get from discovery and we begin winding out the flames of curiosity.

Why does this happen?

From childhood to adulthood there is one key factor that limits our free thought.

Rules.

With each passing year we are thrown inside a smaller box - more limits to what we can do. This leads to more limits of what we can talk and think about.

It's these perpetual cycles of smaller boxes that leads us to depend on the rules to guide us.

Many have fallen to these rules and advocate for them

💡 Rules: The norms set by society (not laws)

Being Bent or Bending

Those that follow the rules unquestioningly choose to have their lives be bent by the rules. Every action of theirs is orchestrated by the limitations set by these rules.

These rules limit their range of free thought and prospects of achieving a dream lifestyle.

Society tells us: go to school, get a job, retire at 60, and live the rest of your life on pensions.

It's the only way of life many people are accustomed to.

They continue to live their lives like this and decay into hollow beings of their past self

→ No goals

→ No reward

→ No dreams

But, instead of being bent, why not do the bending?

Those that bend the rules question the norms set on them by society.

It's these same anomalies that you see on the news - living in mansions in some remote country.

And yes they are anomalies to us - they found success in a domain that we do not even know exists.

Now knowing this, you only have two choices:

1. Be bent by the rules
   

2. Bend the rules to favor you

But it's not all sunshine and rainbows…

The Act of Standing Out

“Learn all the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist” - Pablo Picasso

Picasso was a rule bender.

He known for ignoring three dimensional perspective, structure and proportion.

This allowed him to create abstract paintings like no other.

But, what made his art so special?

It was his realization that the intricacies of life have no place for solid structure.

His paintings were outside the preconceived rules set by the art society.

Many still criticize his art style today.

Its this ignorance that allowed him to master the act of standing out.

You need to realize that as you grow up many people will tell you what you can or can’t do.

→ Your friends

→ Your parents

→ Your teachers

Your friends will lead you to adopt negative behaviors through social influence

Your parents will hold you accountable for their futures by filling you with regret for pursuing your dream

Your teachers will be the first line of societal defense as they condition you towards certain behaviors they advocate.

It's your job to filter out the noise and live by your own terms.

To some extent there is no point in explaining your ideology to them.

It's not their fault - they’re hardwired by society to limit their range of free thought.

However, that doesn’t mean you must fall in the same trap as they did.

Mindset of a Rule Breaker

The second you start bending - even breaking those set in stone rules you will be judged

You will be judged by others that can’t comprehend your plan of action.

You will face criticism for making decisions that others are too afraid to make.

Many times they will attempt to force you off your path for the peace of their own mind.

This is why you need to adopt the right mindset

Mindsets are built of perspectives, and perspectives shift the range of free thought.

You can take it in two ways:

“I’m different or I’m different.”

The same phrase with countless implications.

You can see it negatively where you highlight the thoughts of fear or regret for becoming someone of depth

Or you can see it positively where you highlight the qualities of obsession and curiosity by becoming someone of depth.

This mindset simply means being able to see both sides of each equation.

→ The good

→ The bad

→ The ugly

This is the process that I have adopted…

First, be able to learn the rules and understand the ideas behind them.

Their impacts, their implications and their limits.

Second, be able to pinpoint on limiting rules that can be broken.

Become ignorant of these limiting rules.

Third, gauge over time on how that ignorance has allowed you to thrive (the good and the bad).

Finally, repeat the cycle and shine light on society's conditioning.

Time, time again it has been those that pass by the rules who find their weapon to cut through the noise - the noise of mass media that echoes the majority view in blatant agreement.

Handling the Weapon of Thought

What sets us apart from the thousands of other mammals?

What gives us the power to create and thrive in cooperation?

Free thought

The most powerful weapon of the human race is free thought. The ability to shape ideas beyond our reality and create fictitious beings.

It's these fictitious beings such as social norms that allow for mass cooperation.

Mass cooperation can be seen in two lights.

1. It can lead to new and fresh ideas

2. It can lead to a blind following of current establishments

Being able to distinctify these two lights allows for free thought.

If your weapon is the ability to think, then the person holding that weapon is the brain.

Like any weapon it can be trained and sharpened.

But rules are a limitation to the extent that we can train our brains.

The more restrictions we put on our free thought the harder it becomes to escape the holds of sub-reality.

💡 Sub-reality: The idea that social norms exist only in theory but because it is mass believed it mediates between reality and fiction

Being able to adopt the right mindset allows you to unwind from the set in stone rules and allows for free thought.

By adopting this mindset you see the benefits of questioning on rigid institutions.

The Rulebreakers Novelty

Once you are able to find the limiting rules that you can ignore - it's time to double down on those applications.

Emulation is the most powerful tool in doing so

Find inspiration from those that do break these rules and understand their worldview

The more that you venture off into the unknowns the more you can fuel your own curiosity.

Take their worldviews and mix it with your own experiences to create a philosophy that is unheard of.

This is how every single person you look up to has been able to form their own philosophy.

Instead of looking at a blank page - begin with an idea that you can piece together to create novelty.

This is a long sought out process and it will take many repetitions, but it's better to start now than never.

But don’t worry I’m always here to help.

Talk to you soon

Jay

P.S. Check out last week's newsletter here on the topic of failure as a tool not a fear