About

Ever since I started writing online I’ve struggled to define my online persona. That’s because I have many interests and I wasn’t sure which ones to write about and how that will define the way people perceive me.

This site is where I will share thoughts about all my interests, tidbits about my life and the projects I’m working on.

My current obsession is in trying to come up with a comprehensive understanding of human nature. A close second would be a greater grasp of critical thinking and how confirmation biases and logical fallacies can compromise our efforts to reason.

I’m also interested in life balance, personal growth (and approaching it holistically), philosophy, morality, psychology, spirituality, religion, politics, economics, health, education, learning, history, art, writing, technology, web development, user experience design, business, marketing, parenting, and many other topics.

I can’t claim to be an expert in any of these subjects, but I’d like to learn more about them and to share and discuss what I learn.

I’m not a big fan of specialization, and prefer a funnel-vision approach to life and learning, not a tunnel-vision. Pigeonholes are for pigeons, and I’m not a pigeon (I thought I’d state that clearly in case you had some suspicions :P).

The Turning Point

I would say the biggest turning point in my life happened during my early days at university when I began to question my beliefs and wondered why I had come to accept the beliefs I held onto, and whether I was a Muslim by default (because I was born in a Muslim country and raised by Muslim parents), or because I genuinely believed that my beliefs are true.

I vowed that I would search for the truth wherever it may take me and that I’d be open to embrace any belief system, no matter how different it was from the one I spent all my life with.

I used to imagine myself in Buddhist robes or chanting the Hare Krishna mantra so I could be mentally prepared to make drastic changes in my life.

I don’t want to accept any belief simply because I’ve grown accustomed to it, or because it would be embarrassing to admit that I’m wrong. It’s better to admit being wrong than to continue life on a wrong path.

When I first opened my eyes to the possibility of changing my beliefs I wanted to be rational in my approach, but I didn’t realize there was such a thing as rationalization (the two look the same, but they’re definitely not the same). Therefore, I began to justify my existing beliefs and became a Muslim extremist. I would accept arguments and reject others based on how they supported the conclusions I believed were true.

Now that I’m aware of rationalization and how easy it is to fall in its trap, I’m going through a second major shift in my beliefs and questioning all the interpretations, assumptions and arguments I’ve constructed my worldview on.

I’ll be sharing my observations on this blog, and I hope you’ll find them of value on your own journey towards truth and self-discovery.

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Haider