I've been an inquisitive kid when I was young. I remember picking up
random things and asking endless series of questions etc etc. I still
do all those. I can be relentless when it comes to looking for answers
that do not satisfy my internal metric for truth.

This was partially inspired by
a Episode 41 (Belief) from the
Philosophize This! podcast, and partially about certain things that I
have observed in myself, but did not really want to address/accept.

Everything that follows is what I think and this is true for me at this point in time and space. There is a very good chance that the definition will evolve and grow

What is truth and how to find it ?

There is no objective truth. There is no objective truth because I as
a human being do not have complete information about the world.

You almost never have full information hence you will never find the
ultimate truth. This however does not mean that you should stop
looking. In fact, far from it actually. I would argue that the fact
that there is no ultimate truth, makes it all the more valuable to
keep looking for it.

Imagine how boring it would be to live in a world with a finite amount
of truth in it. Once you have figured out a that amount of truth, there
would be nothing left to do because you have figured it all out.

Having no definitive truth makes life interesting, for there is always
something new to learn; something new to find out. Moreover, having
partial truths is better than not having any truths in the first
place.

The internal Truth Police and skepticism

I have an internal metric for truth. This means that if some
hypothesis does not reconcile with my metric for truth then I find it
very difficult to accept said hypothesis. This often manifests in the form of
dissatisfaction from a proposed solution to a problem at work or not
trusting a narrative until a convincing argument is presented, etc
etc. Needless to say this makes me quite obnoxious and a difficult
person at times.

I've been reading a bunch of old philosophy and one school of
thought that I find myself agreeing with a lot is is Skeptics (and the
Stoics as well). I would argue that this deliberate skepticism is good. It keeps
me on my toes and I can see bullshit from half a mile away. This habit
has made me take myself and my beliefs very seriously as well.

It has also made me very very skeptical of grand claims that seem too
good to be true. After all, there is no free lunch, and everything has
a cost.

Belief

During growing up, I learnt very early on that most of the things that
my family told me about how the world works is False.

The biggest of these experiences heppened when I was moving to
Bangalore and everyone I knew in Kolkata told me that South India was
a weird place. Their food, their language and their customs are
different and they are very racist towards outsiders. My personal
experience was much different and exactly the opposite. There was a
similar mismatch between what people said and how my experience was
when I travelled to Chennai and until quite recently when I moved to
Mumbai. The point is, I learnt to be skeptical about everything I hear
and that has consumed certain other parts of my life.

In the podcast we talk about how Belief and truth are two different
things. When you think about it, it makes sense. After all, just
because you believe in something does not mean that it has to be
true. So, how do you make sure that your beliefs are as close to the
truths as possible ?

In the podcast the host says that one way to make sure that your
beliefs are as close to the truth as possible is by scrutinizing your
beliefs in the most ruthless and the most thorough manner
possible. Now, this is not an easy work. Moreover, this is not a
one-off task. It's a lifelong endeavour. Pledging your allegiance to
the Truth means that you have a lifelong responsibility to make sure
that your beliefs are as closer to the truth as possible.

The aim is to as intellectually rigorous as possible.

Intellectually Rigorous Thinking

I do not idolize a lot of people, however I do idolize certain kind of
behaviour in people. I really value knowledge and I hold learning/the
ability and willingness to learn new things above everything else.

In my experience the most forward thinking, interesting, wise and calm
and kind people are the ones who never stopped learning in the first
place.

I read somewhere that

Life is best filled by learning as much as you can about as much as you can.

and I agree with this completely.

So, one thing that I noticed amongst the people I idolized was that
they had a very lear way of thinking about things. I'm not talking
about a certain ideology. I'm talking about a way of thinking about
things no matter which ideology they follow.

Initially I was quite impressed by Jordan Peterson and he advocated
to "think for yourself". That was quite powerful, until I discovered
Slavoj Zizek and a bunch of other philosophers (can not recall then
but the Hellinistic age was rad), and its amazing to see how they can
think through an issue or a problem.

One major thing that all these people have in common and all of them
advocate for is to read a lot, or in other words to study as much as
possible. The world is increasingly complex with a lot of interrelated
connections and you can only begin to make sense of it by trying to
understand how these relationships unfold. What I am presonally
impressedd by is that after a certain amount of time you begin to see
things you could not see before, like hidden patterns that show you
how the world works. Listening to people like Bill Gates, Harari,
Peterson (to some extent), Zizek etc etc gives you a feeling of that.

I recently came across Hellinistic Skepticism and one of the major take
aways from learning about Hellinistic Skepticism is that they believed
that truth is not binary and it was impossible to attain it and they
valued knowing both sides of an argument very well.

I read somewhere that

You don't know something unless you can argue both for and against it; cause otherwise your opinions are not well informed.

This was a major learning moment for me personally. The fundamental
idea is to analyze your life trough a very critical lens, so you can
be sure that whatever you say, however you act, everything you do can
be reconciled with your internal metric of truth. Otherwise, what's
the point ?

Kindness and Empathy

In this process to find the closest truth one can often become quite
unkind, both to one's self and to other people. This is something that
I am guilty of myself and I am trying my best to get better at being
kind.

I will with a quote -

Doubt is not a pleasant condition but Certainty is absurd. - Voltaire