Teaching Materials
11 Insights of Highly Successful Individuals
Teaching MaterialsInsight #10: Know What You Know
Are you an independent thinker, or is someone else thinking for you?
Have you ever considered the following:
If you were born in Red China, you'd probably be a communist. If you were born in Sicily, you'd probably be a Catholic. If you were born in Haiti, you'd probably be a voodoo worshipper. If you were born in Meah Shearim, you'd probably be an Orthodox Jew. And if you were born in America, you'd probably be a Capitalist.
Most people in each of these countries walk around believing exactly what their society holds to be true. Yet each of these people is convinced that his conception of the world is accurate.
Imagine an Iraqi coming to kill an Iranian. Before he's about to pull the trigger, you ask him if he minds answering a few questions. He says: sure.
So you ask:
Why are you about to kill this guy? Because he's an Iranian. So why should you be killing him? Because I'm an Iraqi. So let me ask you a question. If you were born 200 miles further north, would you be coming to kill yourself? I guess so!
Often we believe what we believe because our geographic environment has somehow convinced us of it - to such an extent that we're even prepared to kill for it!
Ask yourself: "If I had been born into a family of Muslim fundamentalists in Iran, what would I be doing with my life today?" If you don't ask this question, chances are quite good that today you'd still be a Muslim fundamentalist!
In Judaism we say that a person has to check out his own convictions - whether they are really what he truly believes or simply something he's picked up from his society.
Unless we question our beliefs - where does this idea come from and how do I know it's true - we'll tend to be a puppet of our society's convictions - by default.
This is what Abraham, the progenitor of the Jewish people did. Embedded in a society that promoted idol worship, Abraham questioned his beliefs.
In fact, the Torah tells us that G-d told Abraham to leave his land, his birthplace and his father's house. The Torah is telling us that if we want to be truly independent thinkers, we need to examine the convictions we picked up in our homes, our towns and our countries. If not, we'll be walking around with ideas that we think are true and really our own, when really they're just what we picked up from our surroundings.
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