When I was growing up, there were many concepts and notions that I wish I had been taught instead of having to figure them out on my own. I don't intend to tell you what is right or wrong or what concepts are essential or not. I want to inform you of the little bit I have pieced together. Hopefully, this will give you a reference when you struggle to rationalize your own existence.
The purpose of these writings is to try and explain different concepts. It isn't to say I agree with them or not, but merely to say this is the meaning of it. Ultimately you need to figure things out for yourself and create your belief structure that you feel is right.
The many concepts I will explain will be ones that are fundamental to a belief system. A belief system can be described as a set of principles or "truths" that you judge everything against. One of the most important things I think you need to help guide you in life is a well reasoned personal belief structure.
Creating a belief structure is a complicated task. Creating one is advantageous as it will give you the ability to analyze data and opinions and accept or refute them in a more straightforward manner. Someone without a belief structure is more susceptible to being manipulated with strong emotional arguments. Before I had one, I would find I ended up agreeing with most things. In many situations, I would agree with conflicting ideas and ended up more confused in a topic with the more I tried to understand a subject. Eventually, I would decide to leave it for the experts because without a basis to reason with this behavior is natural. But now I can form a definite opinion of what I think is wrong and the principles of why I believe it to be that way. Note I didn't say that I am confident that I will choose the best decision or even to know something is right. I can however, rule out many options as being wrong, which helps narrow down the choices when making a decision.
Having a flag set in the ground, so to speak, was instrumental in giving me a starting point to base my reasoning off. Over the years, this flag has moved many times as my belief system has grown more mature and well reasoned. But I know my perspective and experiences limit it, making it flawed in many ways. Hopefully, you will be able to take from some of my writings an idea that will help you create your first belief system.
Even though I will do my best to state the concepts I feel are essential to know, I will try to avoid outright saying what I think about that concept. I want to attempt to reduce the biases that can occur when understanding new material. However, despite my best efforts, I suspect you will be able to figure out my thoughts on the matter. And many times, I will just get caught up in writing an idea and fail to keep it unbiased. My opinion is irrelevant in the long run; it is your beliefs that will have the most significant effect on your life.
There will be times where I will refer to some news article or event and apply various concepts to it to show the outcome of that path or reasoning. These critical thinking exercises will hopefully be of some benefit to you. However, do be aware that they are merely my opinion and should not replace your reasoning.
Someday when you are older, I hope you will take the time to read these letters I have written to you. By writing these letters and publishing them online, I am trying to ensure they will be around for you when you are ready for them.