what do you believe?

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ

Most of the tweets my wife sends me via DM are meant to be funny. Sometimes they actually are. Often they're veiled attacks in a meme-based proxy war we're engaged in. But in peacetime, she's likely to share advice that I, or we, could benefit from.

A recent one was about storytelling. The tweet's author, Bryan Edward Hill, describes how the use of thesis statements can help overcome writers' block and generate an endless stream of fictional works. I don't doubt its effectiveness for that purpose, but having completed the exercise, I recognise its broader utility is in helping unblock life itself.

thesis statements

Let's start with his definition:

A thesis statement is something you believe is true. Philosophically. It's a CORE belief that you can engage and prove in your writing.

The process of distilling my beliefs was a major motivation for starting a regular writing practice and sharing the output with you. I articulated as much in my introductory post to the nana principles. So whilst this concept felt familiar, the new context provided enough spark of novelty for me to follow Bryan's instructions verbatim.

I brewed some coffee in a french press, sat at my kitchen table and wrote a list of statements I believed to be true in the order they popped into my head. I then chose two that most stood out to me.

I tried not to overthink the latter part. Extra weight was given to repetitive themes as an indication of conviction. I noticed that some points were sub-beliefs creeping towards the same direction, which could be collapsed into more comprehensive statements (e.g. 8, 9 & 12 re. virtues or 1, 5, 6 & 13 re. sensemaking).

Here's what I came up with:

My list

1. The capability for anyone to transform their lives is real
2. Narrow tribalism is a toxic force in most aspects of social life
3. There is more than enough for everyone
4. There is such a thing as objective, universal truth
5. Inability to honestly express is an underreported cause of poor mental wellbeing
6. The goal of life is to see reality as is truly is and live in accordance
7. God is One.
8. Beauty and truth are the highest virtues
9. Mercy and justice need to be finely balanced.
10. God does not burden a soul with more than it can bear
11. Balance is the highest virtue of human character
12. Simplicity is the ideal benchmark for a good life
13. Intentionality/focus/clarity is what stops the vast majority of us seeing positive results in areas of our lives
14. One must consciously develop a worldview or you'll unconsciously inherit whatever your environment throws at you. It needs to satisfy your intuition, intellect, experience and idealism. Once you've developed this, tranquility and "success" will only arise from living your life in accordance with it.

Besides managing to go meta and make one of my core beliefs about belief itself, I think 11 & 14 are fairly representative of two statements I hold to be true.

1. Balance is the highest virtue of character
2. Tranquility and peace comes from living according to your genuine worldview

The reason why this exercise is useful is because your core beliefs become unearthed and tossed into the open, rather than buried under a mental quagmire.

The challenge is that it now presents a burden.

This is what you believe? Prove it.

In the case of the original tweet, your storyelling becomes your proof. The protagonists, villains, plot and obstacles can be moulded creatively to narrative success.

Yes, good ultimately conquers evil. Yes, it is the trials and tribulations that give us purpose. Yes, redemption is possible etc.

How so? Well, you've intricately weaved a convincing account that although exists in the realm of imagination is modeled on archetypal reality.

Yet, in the grander story, the proof of your thesis statements is your life. What a horrofyingly beautiful challange.

Try it for yourself

I'm excited to see how my thesis statements show up creatively and personally in my life. Put some time aside to do the exercise yourself and gather a little clarity on what's beneath the surface.

1. List 10 thesis statements (coffee is optional)
2. Narrow down to 1 or 2 you are most convinced of
3. Think about how these beliefs should inform your life moving forward. Creative decisions? Professional goals? Activism? Personal choices?
4. Share your thesis with me. I'd love to read them. Comment below or reply to email!

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