Reflecting on my intellectual journey, the single biggest contributor to my progress has been giving myself permission. Before I gave myself permission, I never really took my thoughts too seriously. I'd have an intuition that something is not right, but I wouldn't take it very far. Surely the answers were out there, surely it was actually my flaw, surely it wasn’t worth pursuing Permission is not the same as confidence. Confidence is when you are certain. Certain you are right. I am not certain. I am very sceptical, even towards my own thoughts. Permission is the green light. Following the trail of your thoughts, wherever they might lead you. Through the ups and downs, through the pleasant and unpleasant. It is a respect for your own, respect for its ability. Ever since we were young, we have leaned from others thinking they knew. That they had the answers. In school, we were tested on things they presented as fact. They cast a spell on you. A spell that convinced you, that they, the teachers, and to a greater extent, authority, that they knew. Knew infinitely more than you. That they were right. And you were literally marked wrong if you didn't conform. We were told that if you didn't have the degree or the certification or the years of experience, your opinions didn't matter. That you couldn't *possibly* know. Yes, there is truth to what they say. A teacher *does* know more than you. An expert *is* probably more capable. It *is* harder to make a contribution if you lack experience. All these things are true. We need teachers to teach others, we need to be able to trust experts, and we need heuristics for credibility. But these reasons should never be strong enough to snuff out your spark. Your intuition. Your gut feeling. Without your own originality, without giving yourself permission, you deny yourself freedom. All great things come from some form of freedom. Because by definition, you would have been free to create something new. The beginning of truth is when *you*, and *you* alone, realise that things are not as they seem. # ============= 2025-02-17: [[Permission to Think 0.1]] (C)(P)