Why should you take the time question anything? If you're thinking that, it's a legitimate question. To answer, I have a few more questions for you: Have you ever believed something to be true and then found information that made you believe something entirely different? How firmly did you buy into your belief system on that particular topic before coming across this new information?

There was a time that nearly everyone believed the world was flat. Now we laugh and say, "How could they have believed that?" It's simple; it seemed feasible based on the information available at the time. It wasn't until evidence to the contrary surfaced that people's minds were changed.

Digging deeper

How many other things that are commonly believed about the world and yourself might also not be true? I asked this question of myself, which led me to dig deeper into what was really going on in my life. Eventually, I arrived at the even bigger question: Was I a victim of destiny or did I really have any control over my life? This led me to question the very nature of my reality. Could it be possible that what I was seeing on the surface wasn't really "real," and that there might be things I don’t see that are? If that was the case, what was stopping me from really seeing what makes me tick?

Not surprisingly, that led to even more questions and fortunately, some answers. On closer examination, I discovered that many people and institutions had influenced me throughout my life. I thought most of that influence was positive, until I started to allow myself to question everything. When I did, I started to become aware of the unseen. It became clear that virtually everything I believed came from other people. Most of this "programming" was done without my even being conscious of it. And most of it was fine. After all, my ideas and beliefs allowed me to be what most people would consider a good person. I worked hard and followed society's rules most of them anyway. But through questioning, I discovered there were ideas I had that were holding me back and it turned out they weren't even my ideas to begin with! These beliefs were quite literally creating invisible barriers to my obtaining what I wanted.

The tale of the Pike and the minnows

A story I once read about an experiment with Northern Pike fish and minnows exemplifies what I’m talking about: A full-grown Pike fish was placed in the large tank by himself and allowed to swim around freely for a few days. After a couple of days of going without food, the researchers placed a thick piece of glass in the tank, which divided it in half. On the opposite end of the tank from the Pike, they placed a couple dozen minnows — the Pike's favorite food. Pike fish have no shortage of appetite and they strike with lightning speed. So, of course, the Pike immediately darted at the minnows, only to be rudely rejected by the thick piece of glass between him and his much-desired meal.

As you can imagine, crashing into the glass caused a great deal of confusion for him. But he composed himself and made another sudden rush at the minnows. Again, he was halted by the glass, which he couldn't see. His attempts went on in vain through several more attacks. The Pike finally gave up, swam to the opposite end of the tank and simply watched his would-be meal swimming freely at the other end.

The researchers then removed the glass partition and the minnows began to swim the full length of the tank. Some of them even bumped into the large fish, but went about their ambling without being eaten. My understanding is that the Pike starved to death in the tank with food swimming all around him.

So the question now is, are you like the Pike? Can you see everything you want but just can’t seem to get it? Have you given up or are you about to give up? Do you get the feeling that the answers to everything you want are floating all around you? If so, The Guide to Questioning Everything is for you. It provides guidance to conduct a search for your own answers, those that are unique to you.