Seeking True Beliefs/Seeking True Beliefs Daily Practice Checklist

True beliefs are a subset of reality. Intellectual virtues are motivations toward true beliefs. Skills and faculties assist us in acting on virtuous motives and seeking true beliefs.

Here’s a “Seeking True Beliefs” Daily Practice Checklist, grounded in the Seeking True Beliefs Wikiversity materials. It’s structured to cultivate intentionality, intellectual virtue, and alignment between your beliefs and reality.

Morning: Set Intention & Choose Your Beliefs

• Reflect: Which belief or assumption will I examine today?
• Ask:
  • Why do I hold this belief?
  • Is my primary motive truth—not comfort, conformity, pride, or power?
• Choose one belief to scrutinize throughout the day.

Midday: Activate Intellectual Virtues & Techniques

1. Cultivate Intellectual Virtues

Gently embody:

• Love of knowledge
• Firmness with flexibility
• Courage balanced by caution
• Humility
• Autonomy
• Perseverance
• Generosity in sharing insight
• Practical wisdom

2. Apply Thinking Skills

• Observe, read, and gather evidence deliberately.
• Evaluate your belief using:
  • Reliable sources
  • Reasoning and logic
  • Dialogue and feedback
• Remember the metaphor of science as a living tree—some ideas (twigs) are tentative; others (trunk) are robust and well corroborated.

Afternoon: Reality Check & Dialogue

• Identify any intellectual vices (e.g., confirmation bias, ego, fear) that emerged in your reasoning.
• Practice “real hope yields to evidence”—if data challenges your belief, be open to adjusting it.
• Engage someone in dialogue:
  • Share your reasoning process (your theory of knowledge)
  • Invite their perspective and evidence
  • Practice holding truth as common ground

Evening: Reflect & Integrate

• Journal with these prompts:
  • What belief did I explore today—and what did I discover?
  • Was my motivation rooted in love of truth or other factors?
  • Did I hold firmly when justified—and change when evidence called for it?
  • Which intellectual virtues did I strengthen—or neglect?
  • How well did I apply thinking skills or engage in dialogue?
  • How will I continue refining tomorrow?

Affirmations to Support the Practice

(Optional; say silently or aloud through the day)

• “I choose beliefs carefully and responsibly.”
• “My beliefs correspond to reality.”
• “I practice intellectual virtues.”
• “I evaluate evidence skillfully.”
• “I dismiss untrue beliefs.”
• “I embrace reality as our common ground.”

Sample Daily Schedule

Time	Focus
Morning	Identify belief + motives; set intention for truth.
Midday	Embody virtues; research, question, evaluate using reasoning.
Afternoon	Dialogue about belief; test against new perspectives and evidence.
Evening	Reflect: what truths held, what changed, next steps.
Throughout	Use affirmations to stay grounded in truth-seeking.