Question Your Beliefs
If you do not have the ability to reasonably question your beliefs, you will become a slave to them. You will become an acting agent of the ideology you subscribe to. There is a certain degree of commonality between extremism/zealotry and delusion, and it is the degree of certainty the believer has about his or her beliefs. Absolute certainty about someone's beliefs, beyond any remaining reasonable doubt and when faced with alternative or contradictory evidence that refutes or disproves them to a degree, is the core component of both states.
The primary difference is that someone clinically delusional has their functionality and productivity compromised. An extremist or zealot still maintains a relative measure of functionality, although at the core, the zealot and the deluded are on the same cognitive plane. Zealotry and extremism occurs when someone has so fervently devoted themselves to an ideology or belief system that their own self autonomy and cognitive liberty is compromised and even overthrown by the ideology.
In other words, a zealot's behavior and thought becomes so heavily governed and driven by his or her ideas that they often don't even realize how much psychological and behavioral bondage that their very being has been subjected to. They are footsoldiers and broadcasters of their ideology.
Their every move, every thought, and every choice is in the interest of furthering the objective of the ideology or belief system. They identify so strongly with their beliefs that any attack on their belief system is considered by them a personal attack on themselves.
They are willing to fight and die to further the objectives and missions of their ideology and those who lead and champion that ideology, such as the senior ranking leader of the ideological movement. This is the core definition of a fanatic or extremist. They are so certain they are following the right or true ideology or belief system that they are in such an absolute servitude and mental subjugation to it.
As a result, they are willing to defend, possibly kill, and/ or even die for the cause and success of their beliefs, depending on the objectives of the ideology or belief system. This shows in a way, that some ideas are like symbiotic organisms. Not biological organisms, but organisms of complex and/or abstract information that is transmitted virally from person to person through verbal or written communication.
After being transmitted, they proceed to systemize the hosts that they make out of human beings into hierarchies. In a sense, sometimes ideas take possession of human minds, and people often relinquish a great deal of personal liberty to these ideas, and they become slaves to their beliefs.
The primary difference is that someone clinically delusional has their functionality and productivity compromised. An extremist or zealot still maintains a relative measure of functionality, although at the core, the zealot and the deluded are on the same cognitive plane. Zealotry and extremism occurs when someone has so fervently devoted themselves to an ideology or belief system that their own self autonomy and cognitive liberty is compromised and even overthrown by the ideology.
In other words, a zealot's behavior and thought becomes so heavily governed and driven by his or her ideas that they often don't even realize how much psychological and behavioral bondage that their very being has been subjected to. They are footsoldiers and broadcasters of their ideology.
Their every move, every thought, and every choice is in the interest of furthering the objective of the ideology or belief system. They identify so strongly with their beliefs that any attack on their belief system is considered by them a personal attack on themselves.
They are willing to fight and die to further the objectives and missions of their ideology and those who lead and champion that ideology, such as the senior ranking leader of the ideological movement. This is the core definition of a fanatic or extremist. They are so certain they are following the right or true ideology or belief system that they are in such an absolute servitude and mental subjugation to it.
As a result, they are willing to defend, possibly kill, and/ or even die for the cause and success of their beliefs, depending on the objectives of the ideology or belief system. This shows in a way, that some ideas are like symbiotic organisms. Not biological organisms, but organisms of complex and/or abstract information that is transmitted virally from person to person through verbal or written communication.
After being transmitted, they proceed to systemize the hosts that they make out of human beings into hierarchies. In a sense, sometimes ideas take possession of human minds, and people often relinquish a great deal of personal liberty to these ideas, and they become slaves to their beliefs.
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