Can we overcome "personal baggage" ??

[Grandpa Frank]

I first heard the term "personal baggage" while studying psychology in college. It concerns our personal beliefs we form from birth to death , but most in our early formative years. Lets say from an early age your immediate family ,relatives, friends , religious teachers, school teachers, your government leaders and books, TV , and radio all teach you that the sky is purple. When an outside source/person tells you the sky is really blue , you are probably not going to believe him , regardless of any info they provide. The purple sky belief is so deeply ingrained in your mind , it is almost inpossible to change that belief, even though (for the sake of this explanation) , the belief is wrong. To admit the sky is blue means you have to admit not only that you are wrong, but all those inportant people in your life taught you the wrong info. As a young person, I had many incorrect beliefs. When someone disagreed with me , I just labled them an idiot or jerk. It did not ever occur to me I might be wrong. As I grew older, traveled to other countries , read more , and watched/read news from other countries , I became more open minded. Little by little I threw away some of my personal baggage and learned many of my life long beliefs were wrong and I was wrong to defend them. The people I thought of as jerks and idiots turned out to be correct and I was the jerk/idiot for being so closed minded and locked into my personal baggage. It's not easy to throw away beliefs you held for so long and ones that were taught to you by close friends and loved ones. It seems being too opened minded means having no beliefs or ideals , being too "wishy-washy" is not right either?
What do you think? It is possible to rid yourself of this "personal baggage" or is just too deeply brainwashed into your psyche to stop believing what you were taught. Is it possible to admit to yourself that a lifelong belief you have just might be wrong , or is it easier to just keep thinking the "other" guy is a jerk/idiot?

Uncle Frank


:?:?:?

 

[Hezam]

This topic is very meaningful and purposeful.
In my case,i threw away many stupid things and wrong info.
for example :
My parents kept warning me "Smokers are very bad people,Don't get close to them ever".So when i see a guy smoking i show him a mad face or like one of the funny actors said "F* Face" LoL.
Anyway,i grew up and i made many friends,some of them has smoker friend so i spoke to him and day after day i realised that i was bloody mistaken.

Another thing,When i was kid my mother told me that in one of the last 10 nights of Ramadan the sky will split into two parts like a gate so that night i waited for the whole time until morning and nothing happend !
I was like "yappare~ nanimo attanda,okasan!" <-- hmmm,nothing happend after all Mom XD

Also, i had a wrong idea about non-muslims 10 years ago,but when the internet service reached our place i started learning English and speak to other people and i was very happy when English/American friend join my messenger ^^"

Step by step and now i think i'm too much better than before but the one thing that i want to do is to travel to another country like UK,USA,Japan,east asia to get a live picture about the others.

I personally find it easier to threw what i beleived in the past away and beleive what i see by my own eyes.

Thanks for the thread.

 

[RolandtheHeadless]

Usually when I've heard the term "personal baggage" it has referred to lingering emotional issues from prior experiences and relationships. For instance, a woman's former husband cheated on her, so she has problems trusting men.

I prefer the term "received knowledge" for what you describe. Perhaps the best example are religious beliefs. The process of growth as a person, imho, involves testing and examining received knowledge. I was raised to be a Christian, but as I grew older I realized that much of what the Bible says could not be literally true.

But we're all products of our culture and family upbringing, and the knowledge we received from these sources is hard to shake. Many of our acts and words are still affected by received knowledge, even if we don't realize it.

 

[Haruspex]

I've been a rebel as a child, so my standard reaction was "Piss off!'. I never had strong beliefs in any of those elusive things thought by many to be of great importance. Hatred is another thing, though. I don't tend to hate specific individuals too much, but I do passionately hate archetypes. That may be viewed as some sort of 'personal baggage', although I hate them following my own views, not those imposed upon me from the outside.