Face Masks and Freedom: Beware of Skepticism as a Tool of Inaction.

We are taught a healthy and critical mind is skeptical. That is not true. A healthy and critical mind is skeptical when appropriate. Skeptical must never be a default, for then skepticism can be as self-sabotaging as apathy.

To be convinced to not care about the outcome of your own actions, or to not believe that your actions bring meaningful consequences, is one of the greatest harms that can be done to you in the modern era. An additional harm is done to an individual in modernity by injection of undue skepticism in his world view.

Libertarians, conservatives, and other heterodox thinkers of our contemporary and overly trendy era are especially at risk of this.

It can be easy to come to heterodox thinking because one is, by default, contrarian rather than insightful. Contrarian is not a synonym for insightful, though it is often mistaken as such. Reebok Work RB8894 Men... Buy New $134.50 (as of 03:52 UTC - Details)

This desire to be different from others sheds little more light than a default desire to be the same as others. Rather than being the obedient sheep of the herd, you are then the black sheep who dyed his own wool black.

The contrarian behavior lends itself to individualism, but not necessarily to a pursuit of greater truth.

Being different is not enough to be right. In fact, there are many things that the herd does right. Like anyone else living an unexamined life: the contrarian is left with a distorted view of the world and a life full of kneejerk reactions if he can’t recognize and control this tendency.

Being different is not enough. Seeking truth is the goal, and marshalling your resources accordingly is the necessity. Far from that goal, the contrarian may even be left with a spirit opposed to cooperation with others: one of our greatest resources are the people we are able to surround ourselves with.

To innately be hard to cooperate with and to leave yourself in that raw state is self-debilitating.

Unchecked skepticism places itself in a similar position of self-debilitation.

An unfamiliar idea is not then evaluated on its merits. It is evaluated on its novelty.

Skepticism can be the other side of the coin of trend following. It can be mere trend opposing.

Skepticism can be the enemy of faith. It is with great truth that people say faith can move mountains. It need not be a religious conviction. To tell yourself something is possible and to commit yourself to doing that thing makes that thing possible and far more likely to occur than before the person of faith conceived it. The person of faith is required to act in order for creation to occur. If you don’t act, creation cannot occur. If you don’t fight, you can’t win. Face Masks In One Lesson Stevo, Allan Buy New $10.00 (as of 03:17 UTC - Details)

He with no faith, moves no mountains.

It is the leap of faith that brings creation, that brings victory, that brings the moving of mountains. No matter how outlandish the aim, the leap of faith is required to reach the goal. Those able to make the greatest leaps of faith, and who find themselves able to commit to the execution, achieve the greatest feats. In contrast, it is the overly skeptical voices around us or within us that prevent creation, that prevent victory, that prevent the moving of mountains.

In whose interest could it possibly be to prevent greatness in our midst? Probably not yours, dear warrior. And certainly not mine.

The skeptical can be easily convinced to focus on that which does not matter. Politics sucks. Fights are brutal. Government is rotten. Life is a drag. I get it: there are lots of bad things in the world. That’s no permission for anyone to be such a wuss. For anyone to be so mentally weak. It’s no permission at all.

Skepticism is a grand tool. Used improperly, like any tool, it can be leverage for such great evil. It is not the tool that is evil or good, it is the behavior of the one holding the tool. To allow unchecked skepticism is a great evil to yourself and all around you. And do you know whose fault it is when you use a tool for evil?

Yours.

You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You’ll never take back your freedom with weakness. You’ll never take back our freedom with weakness.

Lots of things suck.

That’s no reason to leave the fight. WARNING TO THE WEST Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr Best Price: $11.00 Buy New $16.00 (as of 02:40 UTC - Details)

Skepticism is not a tool of action.

That is evil enough, but it is not sufficiently derided in our era. It is worse than a mere tool of inaction. It is a tool of weakness. Skepticism is a tool of weakness.

“The unexamined life is not worth living,” said Socrates.

One of your greatest tools is your ability to do exactly that — to turn a mirror on yourself, to find truth in your search, to exactingly look at the world, and to act in the world, but most importantly to act within yourself and in your own life around you.

Examined skepticism can be such a useful tool, while some of the greatest potential in our present era is lost upon those with unchecked skepticism.

How useful they are to the enemy.

How effectively they have debilitated themselves.

How little faith it takes, how wonderfully powerful you become, if you can take a tiny leap of faith.

A tiny leap of faith.

The unchecked skepticism you proudly welcome into your own life, and nurture, chokes faith out of your life in a way your greatest enemy would never be able to do.

Push away unexamined skepticism and act, for your actions matter. “Face Masks in One Lesson is a tool you can use for exactly that.