This morning, I opened Facebook as I typically do on a leisurely morning. I scroll through my homepage of news items until I find, "Ten Shockingly Absurd Facts about Society that We Accept as Normal." The article is published by a left-leaning organization, Collective Evolution. I choose to follow this group... why? To reinforce my self-view. To reinforce the ideas and views that I believe need to be out there. To find my people.
I cannot resist reading this... why? To see if it is true. To see if I can find an argument. To see if someone else shares my views. To see if I can set someone else straight (to my beliefs).
It is this routine many others are engaged in each morning. With coffee. With their self-view. With their beliefs. To find their people.
In them or me, the brain is gathering and sorting the opinion from fact. We are making new impressions, setting out new connections in our brains. We are reinforcing and making deeper those earlier impressions and connections.
We are learning. From ourselves and from others. And we are making choices. The decision to read, to consider one thing and not another, to agree with one opinion and not another, to comment to one person and not someone else, to say something supportive or degrading... all self-directed.
What is the impact of these choices on our self-view? Are the choices constructive, combative, politically motivated, socially motivated, or environmentally motivated?
Are the choices we are making responsible?
Are we making enough new connections to keep our brains alert?
Ten minutes later... "Someone liked my comment!" What does this mean to me? Does it confirm what I see in myself? Do I still mean the comment I made?
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