Where 'freedom of thought' is won
I first called this newsletter MemeVC because I find the investment model of beliefs very useful.
When we believe something, we’re deciding “the cost/benefit of believing X will be better than the cost/benefit of believing Y.”
Pain (the kinds I’ve written about lately) accounts for a lot of the costs column in this unconscious calculation.
If we can reduce the pain that threatens us and defines the boundaries of our conclusions, we are literally more free to think.
The ability to accept truth (or change your mind, or learn) can be lost if we box ourselves in behind too much pain, or refuse to confront the pain that’s there.
“Freedom of thought” seems to be a condition we have to fight for within ourselves. It doesn’t come from knowledge itself, or from lack of external tyranny, but from an inner conquest of pain.