We Are All Brainwashed
We are all brainwashed. It's easy to see when people follow a long haired sex fiend or live bizarrely regimented lives behind some totalitarian iron curtain, but it's all of us. If your first instinct is to think, "not me," then you might be in more trouble than you know. As with all problems, you must first admit you have one. Say it with me, "Hello, my name is (insert name), and I've been brainwashed."
Brainwashing isn't just for Manchurian candidates who own too many copies of Catcher in the Rye, or those who sell all their belongings to live in a desert wasteland someplace between Idaho and California. Brainwashing is the conditioning of artificial thoughts and beliefs by inducing systemic pressure, and it works because it's the accepted truth within its sphere of influence. It is true because everyone believes it, and everyone believes it's the truth because everyone believes it. It is a windowless room filled with mirrors. This is true of a cult, a family, a country, or a culture. And in this age of internet access and global entertainment, the sphere of influence can extend indefinitely. Our room of mirrors has grown so large that windows can't be found, and the exit might as well not exist.
This room without a view is only the surface of the dilemma. The more insidious layer has been planted much deeper. In order to see the truth, windows or not, a person has to separate themselves not only from everyone and everything around them, but they have to separate themselves from their own reflection. To change, they have to question, and questioning comes at great risk. To question is to allow for doubt, and doubt is a formidable cliff to approach. It is a deep chasm opening to the possibility that everything you see in the mirror is an illusion.
This is why facts, illustrations, and examples will never be enough to change someone's mind. A few pictures of their beloved cult leader partying on a yacht or buying his fourth Rolls Royce will never be enough to open their eyes, because it is not a matter of the truth being presented or the lie being exposed, but a matter of individual fortitude and the willingness to take a step toward the edge and look into the abyss. It is a test of their personal stability and whether they will be able to maintain footing even without handrails. It requires a willingness to walk out of the village and build their own fire in the wilderness, and to live alone amongst the wolves if necessary. They can't see because they can’t question, and they can’t question because they are afraid. They need the protection of walls even if they are windowless, and the protection of the village, and the reassurance of news commentators, and the certainty of text books, and the passion of teams, and the waving of flags. They need a crowd, and the truth often has fewer followers.
The bargain for truth is strictly written. You have to be willing to separate yourself; to stand apart and alone, to lose your connection. And not only your connection to the room of mirrors, but to friends, society, country, culture, and ultimately yourself. You have to see the face in the mirror and recognize it is not fully your own. This is where it really gets scary.
Most of us incorrectly believe that we made ourselves from scratch. We believe that we worked raw materials and fashioned the visage we call our own. We suffer from the self-deception of unadulterated autonomy and agency. It took living overseas and witnessing this fallacy in others before I could recognize the folly of my own creation myth. So many individuals cut and shaped from the same cloth who couldn't see they were all using the same handful of patterns and colors. Their freedom to create identity was limited by the materials they had at hand. There is a difference between a tailor and a weaver. Cutting new shapes is not the same as creating new cloth, and most of us are just cutting up the hand me down clothes from previous generations and inherited cultures to fashion slightly more stylish suits.
And to an extent this existential thrift shop is necessary. Families, communities, and countries cannot survive and provide the connections and meaning that humans need without a degree of group think and shared programming. The challenge is being honest about how much is discovered versus received, and having the bravery to evaluate what is essential to your becoming and what is detrimental, and finding the resolve to step outside when the received becomes intolerable or unproductive.
The accompanying fear, isolation, and awesome responsibility to question the beliefs that have guided you is one of the most daunting challenges a person can accept. It is the truest act of creation, and as for any God, this job comes with frightening responsibilities. This is why questioning is uncommon, doubt is fought, and well crafted arguments will fall on deaf ears. It is why people resist so passionately in defense of the status quo and inherited truths. Questioning is an existential threat and felt on the primal level of survival. The destruction of the internal self is more frightening for most than a physical threat. A physical threat does not change what you see in the mirror, even if the new face has a few new scars.
This is why most never start to question until they have been broken, separated, isolated, or faced with a fear equal in power to the destruction they might bring upon themselves. It is only when trapped or abandoned that they look for a way out, and begin to question the directions that led them to the room.
If you are a truth seeker, what happened in your life that forced you to question? I am willing to bet there was some moment that broke you down and forced you to rebuild. It was only then, when you had nothing left to lose, that you were finally free enough to question, to doubt, and to create. We are all brainwashed, but hopefully we are also strong enough to smash some mirrors.
