Educational Narrative Rough Draft

Everyone has ideas. Everyone has beliefs. Everyone reading this right now, and everyone out there capable of reading this, and even all the people out there who can't read this, they all have their own opinions. For many people, these things are learned - often from their parents, but not always - and once learned, they're seldom changed or altered at all. I used to be like this, but then I learned to think differently, to ask why I believe something instead of what I believe. As a result of this learning experience, I always try to question the reasons behind the way I think about something, and I formulate my beliefs based on logic and rationality rather than emotions or faith.

A few years ago, if someone were to ask me about the way I felt about any topic I had much interest in, I'd probably spit out an answer without much thought. Not that I didn't feel strongly about anything, but rather, I didn't think to question the reason I thought that way. As a result, if someone wanted to argue against my opinion, there often wouldn't be much I had to back it - at least, not rationally. In such an argument, I would most likely use a lot of phrases like "I feel" or "I don't like" instead of something more objective or rational. This way of thinking tends to lead to something called cognitive dissonance, which is where my learning experience really started. Cognitive dissonance is a psychological term defined as "the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, esp. as relating to behavioral decisions and attitude change." Basically, it is discomfort felt from holding two ideas which conflict with each other. I may not have known that term at the time, but it was crucial for me in the process of learning to question my beliefs and think differently.

I hated that feeling. Everyone does, but most people can ignore it - bury it in their mind, and forget about it. I couldn't do that at all. Once I came to the realization that ideas I held were incompatible, I couldn't get it out of my mind. That feeling of cognitive dissonance ate away at me, and with it, the knowledge that I felt strongly about plenty of things but couldn't rationally justify any of it. By far the most significant example in this learning process, for me, was religion. My parents are religious, and that of course was passed down to me. But when confronted about my beliefs, in trying to justify them, I would ultimately be backed into a corner - the only answer I had was faith. Blind, irrational faith. And if I could not rationally defend my beliefs, how could I ever criticize someone else's? For example, if someone truly believes something as crazy as the Harry Potter world being real, or a more realistic example like believing that one race of people is superior to another, I could not argue against that, because any justification they could give for that would be just as legitimate as my faith. Who am I to say that one irrational belief is any more valid than another? If your only rationale for something is "I have faith" then you cannot truly question someone else using the same reasoning. This line of thinking, of questioning my values and ideas based on rationality, is how I learned to change the way I think. Anything I believed in, I questioned - the reasoning for my opinion, the effect of it, the reasoning of people with opposing ideas - everything. I learned to think about "why" I think something, instead of "what" I think of it - and if the reasons why did not add up via rationality and logic, then I formed new ideas and beliefs.

The result of my learning experience is a complete change in how I think and formulate values, ideas and opinions. Anything I believe in, any opinion about an issue I may have, I always strive to question the logic behind it, and what rational justification I have for it. This method of thinking has also made me much more open to considering the opinions and ideas of other people - questioning my own beliefs naturally leads me to question those of others, instead of just considering them to be right or wrong. For example, my father is extremely opinionated when it comes to politics, is constantly watching news or listening to radio broadcasts which are biased towards his side of the issues, and I frequently find myself disagreeing with his social and political stances. However, I also try to understand them - why he thinks that way, and why I might disagree or agree with it. The experience also resulted in me being more confident about my beliefs and ideas, and who I am in general.  I dislike getting into arguments, and especially dislike arguing about common issues, but I am almost always confident and comfortable in being able to state and support my stance on them, whereas before I went through this learning experience, that was simply not the case.

A few years ago, I held many beliefs and opinions which were irrational, and could only be backed by emotional arguments and faith. Through a feeling of cognitive dissonance, and an inability to support my beliefs rationally, I went through a process of learning to question everything, and to base my ideas on rationality and logic. This process was not short, and I cannot point at any particular time, place or event where any of it happened - it was a gradual and entirely cognitive learning process. But as a result of going through it, I'm now capable of rationally defending my beliefs, I'm more confident about them, and I'm much more open to other people's ideas and trying to understand their perspective.