Thinking for ourselves is difficult. It is hard work. It takes time and energy. This is why we seldom do it.

Let me give you an example: Julian Assange. My initial opinion of him was that he is a brave and visionary man who changed the flow of information in our world. He believes in personal privacy and institutional transparency. He also believes that we should have access to all the information out there so we can form our own opinions on matters rather than propaganda. I think what he stands for is important and necessary. However, after I saw the movie “Fifth Estate”, I decided to look a little more into it and have come to realize that, like many visionary people, he sounds like a bit of an egotistical and reckless asshole. This doesn’t diminish the revolutionary importance of what he stands for, but it does round out my opinion of him.

While I was watching the film I found myself thinking, “Man, I need to be more careful about what I’m lead to believe and what I talk about. I really didn’t know anything except what a few others told me and what I read in the news.”

This is the same with our spiritual lives. So much of what we believe we believe simply because someone told us so or because this is what we’ve heard in the news. But what if we spent even an hour looking into it for ourselves? The information is there for us.

I think you’d be surprised by how some of your beliefs might change when you really think about it.