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 title: "Doublethink"
 date: 2020-06-14T00:00:00
 draft: false
-makerefs: false
 ---
 # Quick Note
 As a quick note, what people post online is often taken as something they will forever agree with and are forever held to. This is unreasonable. There needs to be some equivalent of forgiveness if one posts something horrible online, but that's a topic for another post. I'm not saying people aren't responsible for what they post. But I am saying we should aspire to take the most charitable interpretation of what people post if we care about advancing the conversation. Obviously a person's character is a factor in how you interpret what they post.
 
-On my blog, I want to retain the right to post not only ideas that I understand well. But I also want the freedom to talk about things I'm not sure about. That means I run the risk of being wrong. No one posting their ideas online openly should expect to be immune to criticism. Criticism comes with the territory. But I want to say I'm interested in sharing ideas. If it's clear to me you're only interested in taking my words out of context, twisting what I write or using cheap gotchas because I didn't state something perfectly, then I probably won't respond. If you want clarification about anything I discuss, visit my about page[1] for contact details. With that cleared up, let's move on to the meat of this post.
+On my blog, I want to retain the right to post not only ideas that I understand well. But I also want the freedom to talk about things I'm not sure about. That means I run the risk of being wrong. No one posting their ideas online openly should expect to be immune to criticism. Criticism comes with the territory. But I want to say I'm interested in sharing ideas. If it's clear to me you're only interested in taking my words out of context, twisting what I write or using cheap gotchas because I didn't state something perfectly, then I probably won't respond. If you want clarification about anything I discuss, visit my [about page](/about) for contact details. With that cleared up, let's move on to the meat of this post.
 
 # Caring What Others Think
 Most people are going around supremely concerned with what other people think of them. People convince themselves they don't care about what others think, almost as a badge of honor. If someone tells you this, express disbelief as a test. If they insist they don't care, then you might say they care enough about what you think to try to convince you that they don't. If I get any emails from people who insist they don't, I'll probably find it funny because it only serves to further my point. Humans are social animals. It's pretty well baked into all of us to be concerned with what other people think. Our brains have the capacity for theory of mind not by accident. It keeps us all in check so to speak. This is especially true if you're around a lot of people, in a densely populated city like NYC for example. You literally have less room to think without the input of others.
 
 ## Meeting Expectations
-There is no shortage of outside influences telling us how we ought to think, feel, and behave. In Japan, due to the influence of social conformity, tiger parenting[2] and strict societal expectations to perpetual the status quo, there are over a million hikikomoris[3] in Japan. For those who don't know, a hikikomori is a reclusive person who undergoes self-isolation for extended periods of time. This could be months or years even. There are surely other contributing factors to hikikomoris such as psychiatric disorders[4], but I want to focus on social conformity.
+There is no shortage of outside influences telling us how we ought to think, feel, and behave. In Japan, due to the influence of social conformity, [tiger parenting](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_parenting) and strict societal expectations to perpetual the status quo, there are over a million [hikikomoris](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori) in Japan. For those who don't know, a hikikomori is a reclusive person who undergoes self-isolation for extended periods of time. This could be months or years even. There are surely other contributing factors to hikikomoris such as [psychiatric disorders](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori#Psychiatric_disorders), but I want to focus on social conformity.
 
 In an extremely socially conformist culture where differences are not well-tolerated, is it any surprise that young Japanese are rejecting it, opting to live in isolation? Japanese children are often being crushed under the weight of parent's and peer's expectations, especially in education. Some hikikomoris attended "cram schools", or juku. Ikuo Amano, professor of Sociology at the University of Tokyo said "It's not healthy for kids to have so little free time. It is not healthy to become completely caught up in competition and status at such a young age". In some cases in cram schools, Japanese children spend almost all their waking hours short of basic biological needs cramming. This is not good for their emotional or physical well-being. It's not allowing enough room for the individual to flourish.
 
@@ -54,7 +53,7 @@ So far, this post has been very philosophical. So, I want to add in a personal s
 The professor gave her some really good advice. He told her that she doesn't want to be doing something she doesn't like to do for decades. And that she should consider what she really wants, instead of what other people have told her she should do. She listened intently and took his advice. If I remember correctly she ended up changing majors, but I didn't know her personally so I'm not certain. That was some very solid advice he gave her though.
 
 # Death
-I have to add yet another important disclaimer. I worry that some readers could take this section the wrong way and I really don't want that to happen. If you are suicidal, seek out professional help. I am not in any way condoning or encouraging suicide in this section. This is a purely philosophical discussion about the taboo of death. If someone you know has recently died or is dying, you might consider skipping ahead. If you are not mentally well or have depression, skip this section. It's not worth the risk of reading into it something I didn't intend. It's not necessary for the rest of this post to make sense. If you have any questions, feel free to email me[5]. With that out of the way, I'll continue.
+I have to add yet another important disclaimer. I worry that some readers could take this section the wrong way and I really don't want that to happen. If you are suicidal, seek out professional help. I am not in any way condoning or encouraging suicide in this section. This is a purely philosophical discussion about the taboo of death. If someone you know has recently died or is dying, you might consider skipping ahead. If you are not mentally well or have depression, skip this section. It's not worth the risk of reading into it something I didn't intend. It's not necessary for the rest of this post to make sense. If you have any questions, feel free to [email me](mailto:nick@nicholasjohnson.ch). With that out of the way, I'll continue.
 
 Death is perhaps one of the greatest taboos in our modern society. It is not something you bring up at the dinner table. People don't like to be reminded that they won't be here some day. There is a lot of anxiety around death. People generally avoid thinking about it. One benefit of believing in Christianity, Judaism, Islam, or Hinduism is that you get an afterlife or a next life. You never really have to die. To me, living for eternity is more terrifying. After a trillion billion years, I think anyone would have had enough. People don't consider how long forever really is.
 
@@ -68,13 +67,4 @@ The sky is simply the space in which the clouds appear and dissipate. The sky do
 
 You might object: "You said earlier one cannot resist caring about what others think. So how can I be like the sky if I can't stop judging my thoughts"? This is why they call it meditation practice. Non-attachment takes practice. And mindfulness meditation is one of the most effective ways to achieve that state. It's not always easy to let go, because you have been conditioned your whole life to be passionate and cling. If you can't resist judging your thoughts, then judge them. Just don't judge your judgments of your thoughts. Let your judgments of your thoughts pass like clouds in the sky. So on and so forth. With meditation, your mind will tire of thinking and judging everything all the time. You will become thoughtless. That doesn't mean you can't think when you need to. It means you won't be held hostage by the next so called negative thought you have. You can see you true nature, prior to any idea about who society has told you you are supposed to be. It is a state of nonjudgmental, pure awareness. Some people report getting the feeling that their mind is in complete harmony with all that is.
 
-This is not a state of mind you can force. It's a state of mind that comes about naturally as you practice meditation. It relates to the Chinese term "Wu Wei[6]". "Non-action" can be seen as not acting upon the contents of consciousness, nor judging them. It doesn't mean you are completely isolated from society. To me, it means not being so involved in society that you lose who you are. Being in a state of mindlessness might sound contrary to intellectualism, but that's a misunderstanding. The opposite is true. It's easier to think when your mind isn't getting in the way.
-
-
-Link(s):
-[1: /about](/about/)
-[2: https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_parenting](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiger_parenting)
-[3: https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori)
-[4: https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori#Psychiatric_disorders](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori#Psychiatric_disorders)
-[5: mailto:nick@nicholasjohnson.ch](mailto:nick@nicholasjohnson.ch)
-[6: https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei)
+This is not a state of mind you can force. It's a state of mind that comes about naturally as you practice meditation. It relates to the Chinese term "[Wu Wei](https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei)". "Non-action" can be seen as not acting upon the contents of consciousness, nor judging them. It doesn't mean you are completely isolated from society. To me, it means not being so involved in society that you lose who you are. Being in a state of mindlessness might sound contrary to intellectualism, but that's a misunderstanding. The opposite is true. It's easier to think when your mind isn't getting in the way.