Chapter 1: Introduction
“Believe and Disbelieve Nothing, or BADN for short, is a way of thinking that draws from past and present understandings and across cultures, combining ancient philosophical insight with current technical knowledge in such a way as to free people’s thinking from the divisive, socially- and psychologically-paralysing aspects of belief systems as a whole.”
A brief introduction to what “Believe and Disbelieve Nothing” means, how it is intended to function and what it is meant to achieve.
Chapter 2: Thought and Thinking
“Since learning a few things about the relationship between language and thinking, and how both seem to have developed alongside one another and in relation, I’ve been wondering about what we were like before that— before we were able to intentionally think, to make connections, to form complex plans and abstractions. Our not-yet-capable, basic, savage mind.”
Exploring the development of our ability to think, some of the challenges it presents to us, and how our conditioned habits keep us psychologically stagnant.
Chapter 3: Belief: Our Prehistoric Language of Thinking
“Spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of years in the coldness and blindness of wild survival all but guaranteed that the human species got off to a troublesome start. Developing our ability to think under these conditions, previously knowing only the most basic survival functionality, was no exception to this fact. Still dealing with the violence, scarcity and deprivation throughout nature, we began to strategically gauge ourselves and our world bit by bit.”
The natural emergence of belief within our thinking; its characteristics, strengths, shortcomings, and the dangers it poses to us when it becomes an unchecked dominant influence.
Chapter 4: The Scientific Method
“Gone are the days of having nothing but our impressions of this world to interpret through. Over time and with great struggle, we’ve developed ways of gaining awareness and sharing information along with tools and methods of experimentation that give us deeper, more detailed insight into ourselves, our world and one another.”
Applying the rigor of the scientific method to our thinking to defend against delusion, divisive belief systems and technological dystopia.
Chapter 5: Creativity, Influence and Problem-Solving
“For all of our historical and present struggles, not only have we gained a great deal in the way of natural insights, scientific understanding and technological capability, but also endless streams of creative self-expression and cultural variation. Combined with advanced technology, and thanks to the questionably free flow of information that the internet has afforded us, people are no longer as isolated as they once were, becoming more informed and in many ways a lot more self-empowered when it comes to their thinking.”
A look into how belief systems condition creativity and curiosity, influence the state of things around us, and guide our problem-solving institutions.
Chapter 6: Future Thinking and Morality
“Two of the most restrictive myths about humanity is that we must extract our standards and moral codes from either religious or political modes of thinking — the assumption being that without a government, god, or master of some other description, society will descend into amorality and there will be blood running in the streets.”
Potential outcomes of our ability to think; its misuse, its maturation and some proposed changes if humanity wishes to live in a civilised world.
Chapter 7: Freedom and Unity
“It has to be stated outright that the most natural starting point for the BADN philosophical discipline is recognising freedom and unity as central to everything. This is for the simple fact that the alternatives to freedom and unity are subjugation and division, wherein all manners of ideological, belief-oriented webs will be weaved in order to justify these man-made states.”
Defining freedom and unity as our natural states, and cementing it into the core of the BADN philosophical discipline as being the foundation that will give rise to more desirable behaviours and states of mind than belief ever can.
Chapter 8: The Revolution of Awareness
“There are many things in life that can lead people to the impression that the entire history of humanity is nothing more than a set of cyclical behaviours that we are almost certainly bound to repeat.”
Exploring the history of the battle between our awareness and our thinking, and what it would take to finally find a balance between the two.
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This book is intended to serve as an introductory handbook to the Believe and Disbelieve Nothing philosophical discipline, outlining its purposes, its functions, and as many of its central points as possible while remaining clear and easy to follow.
I am aware that most topics and specific points addressed here are worthy of far more examination and exploration than has been achieved in this potentially oversimplified overview. As James Harvey Robinson wrote in his preface to his book, Mind in the Making;
“Although it has cost its author a great deal more thought and labor than will be apparent, it falls, in his estimation, far below the demands of its implacably urgent theme. Each page could readily be expanded into a volume.”
For any readers who might be interested in the themes of this book, who might want to track the development of this discipline, or who might themselves want to take on mindstates and lifestyles that are in-line with what the BADN discipline advocates, rest assured that this work is only the beginning.
I have developed a clear roadmap for future projects, intent on documenting all possible points of interest in text, audio and video, and to produce them with a level of acute detail and the highest quality I can manage.
Thank you.