Thoughts About ThinkingThe One Commandment of Thinkingby Gerald Angelo Cirrincione
Are there rules of thinking? No. None whatsoever. Thinking by its nature is superior to all rules. Thinking creates rules, questions rules, evaluates rules, modifies rules, destroys rules. Thinking leads rules, it never follows them. Thinking decides what the rules are, whether there ought to be any at all, how they should be applied, and whether they apply in particular cases. Rules never tell thinking what to do. Thinking always tells the rules what to do. Thinking - by looking, listening, and considering for the purpose of solving or exploring - is more realistic and imaginative than rules could ever be. The notion that there are rules that tell you how you must and must not think is self-contradictory and untrue. If you're obeying anything, if you're following anything, then to that extent you aren't thinking. No authority can impose rules upon your thinking from a position above your thinking. Thinking is about your taking control of your life and expressing yourself as an autonomous individual. Your thoughts are yours; they are inside your head. You own and operate them. They're conclusions you have reached. You maintain them, tune them up, overhaul them. Use this power to the fullest. Don't follow anybody's rules. Even so, rigid rules of thinking are proclaimed everywhere. Organized and careerist religion piously warns that certain thoughts are dirty, sinful, shameful, heretical, taboo, or lead to hell. Organized and careerist science blandly cautions that certain thoughts are unscientific, superstitious, fallacious, irrational, illogical, quackish, obsolete, or lead to expulsion from professional societies. Are there rules of thinking? Well, are there rules of breathing? Of walking? Thinking is natural to you, an inborn skill that you can develop and improve - but not by obeying. That would inhibit thinking. You improve how skillfully you think by thinking and by accepting that you're now (as you've always been) on your own. You decide what the rules of the game are. Of course, anybody is free to start a dialogue, to make suggestions, to give recommendations, and to share discoveries. But these are to be proposed thoughtfully, in a spirit of respectful equality, for you to think about. Accept them only because your thinking tells you so. For these reasons, if you were to ask me for THE TEN COMMANDMENTS OF THINKING, I would laugh out loud. I would appreciate that you were making a joke with paradoxical humor. When I stopped laughing, however, if I saw that your question was serious, then I would pause, sigh, and sincerely say that there is one and only one commandment of thinking, and if you follow it, you're on your way to immortal thinking: THOU SHALT JOYFULLY WONDER. Wonder is the warm, sunny atmosphere in which thinking grows. Wonder is the view that there is much you don't know and that's okay. You face the unknown as a playground instead of a battleground. Wonder is an open, gentle way of regarding life. Wondering invites you on a lifelong journey of thinking. Wonder is your joyful anticipation of your mind's blossoming into understanding. An infant is a wonderful bundle of wonder. "I wonder what is going on," is probably the child's first thought. The one sin of thinking would be to stifle wonder in anybody, especially in a child. We need to make the world a safe place for children and adults to wonder. Wonder is spiced with doubt. "I wonder about that person" implies that you're just the tiniest bit suspicious, that you don't take the other at face value. And yet you want to know more. When you approach people with the spirit of wonder you have healthy doubts, but these haven't hardened into a cold or bitter skepticism. You're unlikely to be gullibly taken in, but neither will you reject others in a prejudiced way. You'll watch, listen, and learn about each individual as events unfold. My favorite thinkers bring an atmosphere of wonder with them. The entire world seems to affect them with wonder. They have a childlike, even elfish quality. For them the universe is a strange miracle waiting to be understood. Nothing is ever ordinary or commonplace; everything is surprising. And their wonder excites the emotions of those affected by their work. Stern, critical, humorless, pessimistic people - on the other hand - are rarely thinkers. Their wonder has been shaped, bound, and molded by authorities. This hurts. Pupils in this society's compulsory, competitive schooling have their wonder first crushed and then systematically processed out of them. The only reason to study anything is because you wonder about it and feel an irresistible draw in your heart to learn more. Every other motivation is pointless, dreary, and dismal. Some students become surly slaves on an unbearable treadmill to graduation, while other students are turned into compliant performing seals in a gaudy circus of academic awards and acrobatics. Let your wonder point the way. What you're wondering about is a sure guide to what you're motivated to think about, explore, and solve. Want to engage in a new project, but not sure what? Lacking direction? Then look at what you're wondering about, or what you've wondered about in the past but have never satisfied. Follow your wondering and have fun. Take time to wonder. Don't rush. Free your wonder. Treat it like the magnificent birthright it is. When you pay close attention to your wonder, a marvelous thing will happen. It will heat up, ignite, and blaze into the flame of curiosity. Curiosity is kinetic wonder. Curiosity is wonder with determination. It has acquired strength and vigor; it won't let go of you now. Your wonder has grown, matured, and acquired its own unique personality. When your wonder reaches the level of curiosity, you begin a personal quest for understanding. Thinking becomes a pure obsession. You begin to notice more details. Insights occur to you at any time. You see stimulating connections. The engine of thought has started and is running smoothly. Curiosity can give your wonder a fine diamond point ready to cut through illusions. Curiosity is empowered wonder; it has tenacity and muscle. When necessary, it will risk being considered meddlesome, intrusive, or prying. It can ask tough questions and reject superficial answers. And, on the other hand, curiosity is also quirky, frisky and intellectually playful. It is witty and irreverent. It makes fun of itself. Being silly and acting foolish can - due to the spherical nature of the mind - lead to thunderous insights. Curiosity asks the "dumb" question that approaches brilliance. Curiosity pursues the "unproductive" line of research that revolutionizes human thought. Curiosity has endurance. It is persistent and patient. It is willing to make painstaking observations over long periods of time. It is willing to start over when a tentative hypothesis is disproved. My commandment says, in effect, to stop thinking about topics that you have no interest in, that seem irrelevant to you, that bore you, that make you yawn. Start thinking about what intrigues you. You're under no obligation to think about subjects that the media, your friends, or your teachers said you're supposed to think about. Take stock of where you're putting your mental energy. Is that where you want it to go? You're the maestro of your mind. Take initiative. Redirect your mental energy. Rediscover your wonder. If it has been sleeping, tenderly awaken it. If you've been ignoring it, spend time with it, listen to it, coax it to talk to you, show it that you care. It'll grow into a strong curiosity, and you'll grow into an active, energetic thinker.
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