Being Told How To Think

Being told how to think is indoctrination.

Indoctrination is the process of instilling an ideology into people in order to avoid critical analysis. This can be called ‘socialisation’, ensuring that we run smoothly within a system.

It’s a form of brainwashing / neurolinguistic programming.

Pejorative buzz words like ‘conspiracy theorist’ are used to counteract any questioning of authority. Pejorative: from late Latin pejorare ‘make worse’.

An indoctrinated person doesn’t question or critically examine the doctrine they’ve learned, whether it’s political, scientific or religious. There are many things, even in Buddhism, that we should question, and the answer is usually … “Tradition!”

The Buddha knew exactly what he was doing when he said, “Do not take my words for the truth; test them.” A most potent instruction.