Thoughts can make us completely mad. Religious doctrines, political views, racism, bigotry, complacency, superstition, us-and-them ideas, guilt, shame, narcissism, too low or too high self-esteem, fascism, liberalism, neo-liberalism, conservatism, neo-conservatism, communism—everything we live for is made of thoughts.
All religions and political ideas have led to disasters: gruesome wars, climate change, environmental pollution, the holocaust, slavery, witch hunts, the cultural revolution in China, the killing fields in Cambodia...
So, what are thoughts made of? Firing neurons, electricity, and the release of transmitter substances in synapses?
Are there right-wing and left-wing neurons? Are there optimistic and pessimistic neural pathways? Are there spiritual and evil neural pathways?
Where do new ideas and change come from?
Where do all stupid ideas come from? Do they emerge from the brain stuff, or do they enter the brain from outside? Is the brain both a receiver and a transmitter?
And where do the genuinely friendly thoughts come from?
You can't stop the thoughts and ideas in your brain, but you can see them for what they are: thoughts, electric activity, and release of neurotransmitter substances. They are not necessarily the truth. You can question or ignore your thoughts and convictions—if you want to.
Does this idea change anything? Can it improve our dire situation? I don't think so. An individual can jump off the bandwagon he happens to find himself on if he has the money to sustain himself, but on the group level, there is no hope for a fundamental change. Humankind will be gone within a few years. Our ecological habitat will be ruined in a nuclear war or because of climate change.