I spent most of my life trapped in one or more ideologies. Although some of them were beneficial to me in certain ways, they all kept me from seeing as much of the big picture as I could have without them and caused me problems in many other areas, especially in my interactions with people in my life. By the time I realized how much I let other people and their ideologies think for me, I was horrified and knew I had to change that. I still struggle at times to avoid being an ideologue but I can mostly avoid it at this point.
Trying to make everything fit into one specific ideology, narrative, agenda, or worldview with no contradictions whatsoever is maddening. I did that for years and I’m tired of it. Now I’d much rather take an honest look at something and come to my own conclusions about it. I quite enjoy finding new ways to look at the world and seeing many things differently than I once did. It’s wonderful to have changed my mind on a number of topics and given myself permission to feel however I like about anything without being constrained by any ideology. Sometimes I’ll have contradictory thoughts and I’m ok with that. I’ve never gotten better at something without making a lot of mistakes along the way, so if some of my thoughts contradict each other, that may mean that I’m getting better at understanding the world. Or it may mean that life doesn’t fit perfectly into a box and that contradictions are not only possible but rampant throughout the universe. Both of those possibilities are fine with me.
Sometimes I can tell that another person is stuck in an ideology from the way they behave since I used to behave the same way. If someone speaks as if they could never be wrong, automatically disregards anyone who disagrees with them, only looks at information that supports their positions and ignores information that casts doubt on them, speaks badly of and makes assumptions about people who think differently than they do, and is unwilling to consider alternative perspectives, then chances are good that they are deep in an ideology. When I’m in a good state of mind, I feel bad for these people and hope that they get out of their ideological traps so they can see some amazing things that they’re currently missing. I also check myself during those times to see if I’m thinking for myself whenever possible; if not, I make sure that I resume taking ownership of my thoughts. The mental peace and freedom I receive from doing this is well worth the effort. I look forward to receiving even more peace and freedom as I get better at freeing myself from ideological traps.