Our Echo Chamber

Our mind is an echo chamber
that creates its own environment.

Echo chamber: an environment in which a person encounters only beliefs or opinions that coincide with their own, so that their existing views are reinforced and alternative ideas are not considered.

In this way, we acquire a social I; this is the validation we get back from others. We seek out those who think in the same way, in order to find our place.

Groupthink requires individuals to avoid raising controversial issues or alternative solutions and, as a result, there is loss of individual creativity, uniqueness and independent thinking.  Members of a group can often feel peer pressure to “go along with the crowd” in fear of rocking the boat and being kicked out. We learn to repeat the same scenarios, and the same ideas echo in our minds.

How often can we be honest in our group? We are required to adopt the consensus. The opposite of consensus is questioning; when we question, we stop the tinkling bell in our mind by taking the clanger out. All that remains is the silence and clarity of emptiness 😀