You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go.
-Dr. Seuss

Friday, March 7, 2014

I too, am conditioned

In Huxley's Brave New World chapter 17, page 234 Mustapha Mond mentions this: "One believes things one has been conditioned to believe them. Finding bad reasons for what one believes for other bad reasons-that's philosophy. People believe in God because they've been conditioned to believe in God."

I have always wondered "What if I was not of Mexican descent? Would I be Catholic? What if I was conditioned to believe in another religion?"

Now I realize that all of the visits to church on Sunday were part of the conditioning that has now become a habit. Reserving one hour of my time of Sundays for God is now a habit. I do not complain, because I have known no other rituals.

I have been conditioned for the past 12 years. The school districts have conditioned me to do school in hopes that I actually learn in school. I was conditioned to think that I had a limited amount of time to learn and master something. The bell is my ruler and I do not complain, because it has always been that way.

Society has conditioned me to think that I should weigh as least as possible, that I should buy their products and play the roll of the consumer (the one I was born to play).

I have been conditioned in many ways, but like Helmholtz I refuse as much as possible. I do not refuse just so I can be claimed a rebel, but do so that others may be able to see through our blinding world. Of course I cannot always refuse I can sometimes be as vulnerable as Bernard, but I sure am persistent just like the savage.


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