Institutions and Origins of Ideas

As children we are dependent upon others for our beliefs.

We begin learning language in the womb. By birth, we are trained to respond to the tonal features of the language spoken by our parents. By one year1, we utter our first words, and with this utterance we have acquired an accent. A distinct and extremely complex facet of speech that distinguishes us by nationality, region and class. For the rest of our lives, we will never hear our own voice as others hear it – “foreigners” will have accents, but we speak “normally”.

Beliefs are acquired much the same way – it is a conditioning process; a necessary one, but which has dangerous flaws and pitfalls. Our beliefs are derived from family, friends, community, and institutions: academia, government, and religion. As babies, then toddlers and children, we have no way of evaluating the beliefs that are programmed into us. It doesn’t matter who you are, unless you were raised by perfect parents in a perfect community (which exists nowhere), the majority of what you believe is incomplete, artificially constructed, or completely wrong.

Institutions form the foundation for our societies – any society of the size or scale of those in the modern world require some organized way of orchestrating conduct and the affairs of people. A primary force in the perpetuation of incorrect thought is the institution. This is because all institutions have motives or agendas that have nothing to do with the dissemination of truth. These agendas sometimes have to do with power and sometimes money.

Institutions are not inherently bad or good, but they are often resistant to change or outside influence. This reluctance to change means every institution, whether a church or government or university, will eventually come to resist truth. Also, because institutions are powerful, the ideas they promote are seen as more ‘legitimate’ than those held by lone individuals or small groups. Yet, it is only for being associated with power --or strength by majority--that institutional ideas are elevated in the social-collective mind. The actual value or intellectual merit of these ideas typically has nothing to do with Institutions are not inherently bad or good, but they are often resistant to change or outside influence.

This reluctance to change means every institution, whether a church or government or university, will eventually come to resist truth. Also, because institutions are powerful, the ideas they promote are seen as more ‘legitimate’ than those held by lone individuals or small groups. Yet, it is only for being associated with power --or strength by majority--that institutional ideas are elevated in the social-collective mind. The actual value or intellectual merit of these ideas typically has nothing to do with how popular they become or how well they are received. Instead ideas are marketed; and persuasion assumes primacy over substance.