Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
It's a bit disconcerting to one day realise that everything you believe in, or rather, was taught to believe in, comes crashing down upon you and that safe, secluded cone that enveloped and cradled you once, has shattered to expose you, raw, to the big bad world.
We take it for granted - our beliefs, our notions and our perceptions.
From a very young age, we look into the world through someone-else's eyes.
Questions are muted and intrigue is dampened to produce an ideal product of society; one that speaks, hears, understands the way he is programmed to be.
It is something we never realise as we hobble along in our monotonous ruts.
But in the past week or so, questions started springing, doubts crept in and bafflement pulled the strings of many minds.
At school, our weekly Theory of Knowledge sessions most often end in mental disarray as we prod at questions and engage in heated debate. For those of you not familiar to Theory of Knowledge, it is a class in which students analyse and dissect the various facets of 'knowledge' and learn to be independent, inquisitive thinkers meant to challenge things and not accept it as it is.
Recently, a very intriguing debate arose about 'conspiracy theories' and it made me realise how we often accept things without any questions.
In Theory of Knowledge classes, we learn that the core principles are reason, perception, emotion and language.
However, we often chose to ignore at least one of them; not seeing the big picture.
Feeling secure and being an impression cast by the mould of society may seem an easy way out. Yet, it is merely comfort food.
All the people that ever made it big in the world asked questions - questions that sometimes shook their faith and foundation and questions that changed their lives.
Life is full of mysteries and some may never find answers. Shying away may keep you living but to be truly alive is to take a crack at the riddle.
