Doubt — Will it be the destruction of Humanity?

Doubt — Will it be the destruction of Humanity?

What if I told you that a dangerously high level of doubt has flooded our lives and is destroying humanity right before our eyes?

Would you believe me?

Such a little word for such a formidable force, yet, in truth, doubt is wielding a deadly path of destruction from within us, outwards to every corner of our lives and everyone in society.

So, you might be thinking, it sounds a little overdramatic that doubt within me could be the beginning of the complete undoing of humanity, right?

Stay with me here, as you might be surprised to discover the creative power held within you, including your thoughts and feelings, which in turn create belief. Not to mention how, when unattended, your doubt could accidentally result in the potential demise of humanity, through the powerful ripple effect.

Before we go any further forward, it is a good idea to look back to where doubt potentially began to form within us all.

Doubt and Trauma

When you were a child, like the vast majority of us, you experienced trauma, sometimes small and seemingly insignificant, and yet sometimes obviously gigantic.

As a child, this trauma frequently forms whilst our parents were likely also dealing with their own personal unresolved childhood trauma. Unresolved trauma, for us all, leads to developing coping mechanisms to enable us to survive in this sometimes crazy world in which we all live. To make matters worse, when childhood trauma is left unresolved, we are left with feelings of unworthiness that result in a fragile foundation creating deep internal doubt. Then, as a flow-on effect, the rest of our problems throughout life, associated with doubt, are simply amplified from this unstable foundation.

Forms of Doubt

Five forms of doubt are systematically and collectively destroying humanity, internal, collective, learned, societal and interpersonal, yet only one of them is entirely within our control individually.

Internal Doubt

The first, internal doubt, is the primary lever of all other doubt that ensues in society, leaving the remaining four forms of doubt as a kind of roll-on effect so to speak.

When we stop the primary lever of internal doubt dead in its tracks, we can avoid the dangerous implications of the rest of doubt being kind of thrust onto society as a whole. This concept is important to get your head around. In reality, it is kind of like doubt begins at home. To build a solid foundation, it is the ‘be the change you want to see’, and for the faithful, it’s the ‘do unto others, or in this case, the don’t do unto others as you wouldn’t want to be done unto you’.

So to understand the destructive role that doubt plays in society, we need to first, break down the forms of doubt, thus explaining where doubt begins within us, and amplifies within society as a whole.

First, we have internal doubt, which I have already alluded to, being the kind of setter of the stage, so to speak, thus making you an easy target for external attempts to manipulate and control you through the doubt that ensues in society as a whole.

Collective Doubt

Then we have collective doubt, developed en masse through social and cultural norms and practices that unfold over time within every part of society. Collective doubt is like a disease, creating epidemics of doubt in large groups of people, leaving us feeling divided from others and perceived as different, thus creating significant divisions in humanity. You should all know this one well. It is frequently referred to as, the doubt of divide and conquer. The amplification of collective doubt over a long period is dangerous. In these circumstances strong feelings like hate can develop between groups of people, leaving collective doubt to cause us to focus on the things that make us different, instead of focusing on what unites us.

Collective doubt rises through all forms of discriminatory behaviour in society, including some well-known ones like racial, gender, sexuality and religious discrimination. When you have a solid foundation of self, free of internal doubt, you show up in the world with a certainty that requires no external gratification or the need to project judgement on others.

Just like in a building, where a solid foundation is key, so too is it the key to avoiding the dangerous pitfalls of collective doubt in society. External forms of doubt cannot creep in when the foundation of self is solid.

Learned Doubt

Then there are the destructive forces of learned doubt, and I used the word learned very loosely here. Learned doubt comes from the institutions that we are part of in society. These can include work, school, sports or other places we frequent. I have deliberately used the word institutions, as learned doubt can frequently feel like the learning here is forced upon us, particularly during our early years as children. Learned doubt causes us to compare and compete with others unnecessarily, which unfortunately leads to a whole host of complex and troublesome problems in society, further exacerbating the problems associated with collective doubt.

Again, learned doubt can be avoided when we come from a place of internal clarity of self. You can probably see quite clearly now how doubt is exacerbated in life through the overlaying of external doubt on a weak foundation. Yet, get the foundation solid and you can navigate through life’s lessons stronger each time. The value that a solid internal foundation brings to spaces where learned doubt shows up should never be underrated. Not only is a solid foundation of self good for you, but it is also good for the whole of society.

Why? because when you show up doubtless of yourself, you give others permission to do the same, through the incredible power of the ripple effect, growing society against doubt, one person at a time.

Societal Doubt

Then of course we come to societal doubt. This kind of doubt, unfortunately, is frequently and deliberately created in marketing, and through political systems to convince us of a certain perspective, that is drummed home so to speak, through repeated messaging in advertising & news, sometimes directly, yet often subliminally applied. When amplified with pre-existing internal, collective and learned doubt, things can get incredibly fuzzy fast, making us easy targets for manipulation and control.

Societal doubt is a potent disruptor, in that it can undermine an entire society, leaving the collective feeling out of control, confused, fractured and without a collective way forward. There is an interesting analogy in this situation. If you don’t learn how to control yourself, someone will be happy to do it for you. The same applies not only from an individual perspective but also from a societal perspective. Those societies without a solid foundation of self, without realising, unknowingly find themselves controlled by others.

Those with a solid foundation of self, elevate others to do the same. Society needs us to come together doubtless of our sense of self. A beautiful saying has stuck with me for many years, know yourself and you shall know others. A society built on a solid foundation created by us all individually brings the certainty we all crave. The difference is that it is a certainty that is created within, which is unshakable in the face of any disruptive force attempting to shake us.

We are all creators, it begins within you!

Interpersonal Doubt

Finally, but by no means least, we have the dangerous interpersonal doubt, which creeps in and erodes internal doubt through the external relationships in our lives. Whether that be with family, friends, partners or work colleagues, it can be incredibly destructive. When I say creeps in, this can often mean by force, or subtle ways when the people in our lives often feel the need to control us.

Interpersonal doubt is tricky because it can frequently come from the ones we love and respect. Yet it can only arise when both parties do not have a solid foundation of self, that is void of internal doubt.

Doubt Erosion, Amplification and Belief

Can you see how the erosion of doubt has crept into every corner of our lives?

Some people like it that way. Why? Because our internal doubt amplified externally, keeps us trapped in the consumer society that we are in.

In this current society, we are all consuming without realising that we have given away the very freedom, we once believed we fought for, to the highest bidder, through our wallets, all propagated by the failed systematic destruction of internal doubt, the doubt of the self.

What is the opposite of doubt? Belief.

When you forgot to believe in yourself, how is it possible to believe in anything else external to you?

Change this and you change the game completely?

Control and Freedom

I knew we would finally come to the words control and freedom. These words are not exactly the flavour of the day in our current world, where it sometimes feels like freedom might have been a myth after all.

So you might be asking, why does control play such a significant role in doubt?

Well, to create a position of control, you simply need to create only a tiny amount of doubt, which is one big giant elephant in the room, when it comes to factors like social and cultural conditioning and the control of information. We are taught in every part of society to idolise control from a very young age, which then so generously teams up with doubt, and then the game of manipulation is on for all adults to play.

Are you unwittingly playing the game?

Fear

So let’s look at an example of how control and doubt play out in society. An easy example is when doubt is used to create fear because fear is the easiest way to control anyone and everyone, who has a foundation void of self-belief. These exact situations occur everywhere in society in product advertising, by our governments, and by anyone for that matter who wants to control you or to make money.

Doubt coupled with fear is the single biggest purchasing trigger unleashed on society, driven directly to you by the train named fear.

Ask yourself, Are you living in fear? Can you answer this question honestly? What comes up? Welcome to the party because we all got on that train, that is 99% of us did, whilst the 1% is driving us into the Abyss.

Where do Doubt, Fear and Control exist in your life?

If you don’t believe me ask yourself the following questions to see where doubt, fear and control are playing a role in your life.

Do you have insurance? Have you paid more premium than you claimed? Are you staying in a job you hate for the money? Have you lost hope or trust in others? Have you been vaccinated against diseases without having all the facts to make an informed decision? Did you study for a degree to please others by getting paid more money? Do you work more than you prefer? Would you rather spend more time with those you loved instead? Could you quit your job today and survive? If you answer yes to any of these questions, you have experienced doubt, fear and control and are not free at all. You are in good company with the other 99% of us all.

Can we Overcome Doubt?

I know it is a bitter pill to swallow. Why? Because I personally choked on it myself for some time. However, just like anything else, first, we must learn the truth to understand where we are, so we can chart a better course forward, right?

So now we have likely got a clearer understanding of where doubt began and how it is greatly amplified, it is time to talk about a solution, right?

The Antidote to Doubt

What is the Solution?

With the last three years in mind, we are probably all pretty clear that the opposite of control is freedom, right? I imagine it also wouldn’t be too far off the mark to suggest that we would all like to experience freedom in our lives, yes?

Here is the clincher! What if I told you that your freedom exists buried beneath your very own internal doubt?

No, wait a minute, surely it’s not possible. That means that we all have the control to be free!

Wow! That means all we need to do is overcome our internal doubt to build a strong foundation, so that all the other doubt that is slung on us like mud through life, can now just wash away like water off a ducks back.

Overcoming individual Doubt

The question then is how do we overcome our doubt individually?

In my book, Infinite You, I wrote about eight principles that helped me and may help you to remove internal doubt. These are:

Support — Find someone to hold space for you Begin — To begin will take courage, with great rewards Time — Life is not a race to the finish line, it’s to be lived Celebrate — Celebrate your successes along the way Kindness — Be kind to yourself, before teaching kindness Depth — There is magic at depth, below the surface of you Continuum — There is no end to the discovery of you Give — Pay it forward as you grow to help others

Belief and the collective force of the ripple effect

When we each begin to do the work, then we can recognise that we are all part of humanity, with the same desire to be free, and can come together in unity to do just that, all be free.

Freedom is hidden right in front of us, in plain sight, it is looking back at you when you look in a mirror.

We’ve got this!

Is it time you flipped your doubt to belief?

Freedom awaits us!