Inquiry: He is absorbed in conspiracy theories

He is absorbed in conspiracy theories.

(He is completely absorbed in conspiracy theories that are wacky even on the surface.)

– 0 –

Is it true?

Yes.

Can you know for certain it’s true?

No.

What happens, how do you react, when you believe that thought?

I have several stories about him:

He is paranoid about people in power. 

He is caught up in wacky, poorly founded conspiracy theories. 

He takes stories as true – in a conventional sense – without any good evidence to back it up. 

He believes it just because he wants to believe it. 

He is caught up in a blind and irrational reaction to a wound. 

He has hurt/wound triggered by authorities (perhaps his father), and it comes out this way. 

I thought he would be a good friend, and he disappointed me with this conspiracy theories.

I feel upset, frustrated.

In my mind, I make fun of him.

I sometimes rehearse counter arguments for myself or with others.

I tend to go into the opposite view.

I want to make him see reason, and also know it’s futile and will just be unpleasant.

Tension. Tightness in the chest. Shallow breathing.

Tension in the calves, jaw muscles, shoulders.

Who would you be without that belief?

I would see him as man.

Curious about his views.

Relaxed.

Free to explore his views or not.

No need to engage.

And if I engage, it comes from curiosity.

Turnarounds

He is not absorbed in conspiracy theories. 

Not all the time. He is often doing other things.

I don’t know if he is “absorbed” in it.

I don’t know how seriously he actually takes them.

What he is is not “absorbed” in them.

I am absorbed in conspiracy theories.

About him, when I see him as stupid, misinformed, caught up in blind reaction to a wound.

(I am caught up in blind reaction to a wound when I believe this initial thought about him.)

Whenever I believe a thought, I am absorbed in conspiracy theories.

When I think/feel I am treated unfairly by life, God.

When I think life is out to get me.

When I think that life is unkind.

When I see myself as a victim.

– 0 –

Note

I see that I am just like him.

** Whenever I tell myself I am a victim, I go into a conspiracy theory.  **

** Whenever I tell myself life is unfair or unkind, I go into a conspiracy theory. **

– 0 –

I also see a pattern for myself here about people in power.

(a) I sometimes get caught up in beliefs (wounds, upset) about abuse of power.

And (b) I sometimes get caught in beliefs (wounds, upset) about conspiracy theorists, people who get into paranoid about people in power.

Both of these seem to come from a wound, a hurt around people in power, probably from early in life.

So it would be good for me to identify situations in childhood where I remember feeling powerless, unfairly treated etc. and inquire into beliefs.

– 0 –