The School of Cognitive Dissonance

Photo by Mathew Schwartz on Unsplash

Can you hear that? That whisper? That little voice echoing at the back of your brain like a splinter? The one causing your world to rattle upside down?

You should consider listening to it. Hear what it has to say before dismissing it. I've found mine to sometimes knows more than I thought it did.

It appears many of us believe our need for critical thought has diminished. That because so many things are easily found online these days, it means we don’t have to think as hard. Don't have to dig as deep. We let our feeds and our notifications do it for us. Knowledge is searchable in the archive of our collective consciousness. "Just ask Google."

… But that’s sort of backwards if you ask me.

Information being attainable through the easy-access of collective knowledge is exactly the reason we need to think even deeper. We should ponder more complex complexities and develop better solutions. Because they aren’t going to slow down.

And that wisdom is not the same thing as knowledge. Especially this day & age.

“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” ― Albert Einstein

We mustn’t let technology control us. Letting it think for us will be the first step to humanity's collapse, if we aren't arguably already on our way. Our devices are tools. Maybe even, one day, considered equals ... but they should not be regarded as replacements. 

Tools are meant to help us be more efficient and more productive to accomplish the task at hand. But as with all tools, problems evolve along with their solutions. Don’t fool yourself into thinking the same system will work forever. It won’t -- look at the state of American politics right now. 

“A fine line has to be drawn between technologies that can benefit society and technologies that can control it. And the key to passing these laws is an educated, informed public.” - Michio Kaku, The Future of the Mind 

Cognitive dissonance is an opportunity to further define yourself. 

It is not something to fear or draw hesitation upon. Much rather, it’s something to embrace, to love and grow with. Something to be grateful for. It’s the universe presenting you with a choice. 

Do you choose to listen? Ignore it? Ponder its suggestions? Better yourself with truth? Or do you want to shut out your senses and continue to live in the comfortability of falsehood?

Learning something is our evolutionary inevitability at work. It is our brain rewiring itself to better comprehend reality. Homo sapiens: gifted with the ability to learn, to not be programmed by our undoing. That is something our successors will never truly know until they experience it themselves. 

Something we need to remain willing to accept.

“The process may seem strange and yet it is very true. I did not so much gain the knowledge of things by the words, as words by the experience I had of things.” ― Plutarch

‘Cognitive dissonance’ has a negative connotation. And I feel like we should rephrase it so more of us are apt to staying open-minded. I have no suggestion for this yet, but I recognize and highlight the need for such neurolinguistic relabelling.

Because it is in that moment of disturbance where one is truly free to define themselves. To let go of the rope causing more harm than benefit.

You are what you think, and thinking anything else besides 'still learning' is a mistake. 

Think for yourself and don't be a sheep. Seek truth until it no longer serves its purpose. Then seek its evolution.