Thought is most certainly built. We have a tendency to think of an objective reality which only has to be correctly apprehended, which is partially true in a sense, since our model of the world carries with it a certain material efficaciousness and real lasting effects in the so-called world. And certainly, one's model of the world is derived partially from one's life experiences.
But one finds that one can't simply look at the data and glean the answers that everyone else is getting. No, it takes constant work to shape and refine the frameworks for understanding the data in the first place, and even then those frameworks are constantly threatening to slip away without constant maintenance.
The thought stands apart from the thing perceived and being described. This is all the more confirmed by the increasingly widespread spectacle of the committed conspiracy theorist, who constructs majestic hall of mirrors structures of thought which are completely self-referential and demonstrably false, but which convince the believer otherwise through the sheer impressiveness of their reach and explanatory power, and which emanate from the believer's own precious and sacred sense of persecution and group membership.
It doesn't even take the easy target of the conspiracy theorist, as we have the committed centrist, still comfortably ensconced in some intact niche of society which has not yet crumbled off, who through the aversion to disturbance and movement, clings to elaborate structures of thought premised on moderation, stasis, and smug objectivity, as the world spins, separates, and burns.
There are plenty of other forms of thought to further scrutinize, and I'll be damned if I haven't turned the barrel towards my own forms. Like a loaded handgun, thought as a tool contains within it immense potentiality. A little self-criticism, self reflection, perhaps, is not the worse thing. And it is worth putting in a little consideration as to where the thing is actually pointing.
