...where the Two become the One
I think that there is a tendency within spiritual circles to generalize a lot of the spiritual sounding terms without thinking through and clearly defining what each one means, nor understanding the reasoning behind them. For instance, “unity” is often used as an ideal, but is it being referenced as an internal locus of control unity or external locus of control unity? Ego death is a mine field that can […] Read more »
Arguing your point is not critical thinking, that’s a competitive debate. Critical thinking is the ongoing [open ended] objective discovery of truth in a systematic fashion, and requires standards of thought, various tools and methodologies of inquiry, and a myriad of character traits that places the pursuit of truth above personal feelings and biases. However, arguing is usually engaged in because of biases and emotional attachments to particular outcomes that […] Read more »
In this video I discuss the importance of objectivity and dialogue in regards to deepening our intellectual and emotional understanding, as well as to improve the quality of our thoughts and relationships. Learn about holarchy and how it relates to multilogical thinking and holding a dialogue. Read more »
What many associate with judgment is based on the common interpretation of Jesus in Matthew 7, when he said “Do not judge lest you also be judged”. Unfortunately, they throw the baby out with the bathwater, and avoid using their critical thinking to make reasoned judgments. I delve into what exactly reasoned judgment is, and how it is different from being judgmental. If this is something that interests you, than […] Read more »
It has become painfully obvious to me that many people are unable to get past their confirmation bias and motivated reasoning enough on emotionally charged topics to actually read and comprehend what has been presented by fair minded thinkers. They will bypass around fair minded information, even if it clearly addresses their concerns, because they perceive that it conflicts with their biases — and skip straight to arguing against points that […] Read more »
This is why it is very difficult to go into an open-minded discussion with some individuals, because many people have emotional attachments underlying their beliefs, and this causes them to be intellectually dishonest in the discussion. Unlike us, they do not want to know the truth, but they just want to prove their point, as it soothes their underlying emotional needs that they are attempting to meet by converting, dehumanizing, […] Read more »
“A false dilemma (also called false dichotomy, false binary, black-and-white thinking, bifurcation, denying a conjunct, the either–or fallacy, fallacy of exhaustive hypotheses, fallacy of the excluded middle, the fallacy of false choice, or the fallacy of the false alternative) is a type of informal fallacy that involves a situation in which only limited alternatives are considered, when in fact there is at least one additional option. The opposite of this […] Read more »
The following are excerpts from the book “The Thinkers Guide For Conscientious Citizen’s in How to Detect Media Bias & Propaganda” by Richard Paul and Linda Elder: “Objectivity” may appear in three ways. Two are genuine. One is a facade, a counterfeit of objectivity. The Objectivity of Intellectual Humility The first form of objectivity is based on the possibility of developing intellectual humility, knowledge of our ignorance. Thus, a critical consumer […] Read more »
Some comments and arguments are not worth responding to with a counter argument or clarification, because the antagonist’s mind is already made up, and their only desire is to provoke us into a power struggle. They know that if they can provoke us, they not only win, but we begin to doubt ourselves, we lose energy, and we lose a little bit of our future motivation to act. We can […] Read more »
We did it to ourselves…. we traded away our liberties for the safety of a paycheck. Read more »
The issue of gun control is not a black and white either/or dilemma (false dilemma logical fallacy), but multifaceted, which means it requires an in depth multilogical approach to discern the myriad of factors involved. Trying to solve it in a one dimensional way is both naive and ignorant, as it ignores the layers of factors that led to the second amendment’s creation—as well as its attempted downfall. ~Nathan From […] Read more »
Aline and I were reflecting on the following question for many days, “what is the difference between hitting a block and minimizing it by going into cognitive dissonance, and hitting a block and alchemically transforming it?” The answer was monological vs multilogical thinking. According to CriticalThinking.org: Monological (one-dimensional) problems: Problems that can be solved by reasoning exclusively within one point of view or frame of reference. For example, consider the following problems: 1) […] Read more »
While learning knowledge is important, some forms of learning are more akin to conditioning, such as the traditional didactic means forced upon us in public schooling. Didactic learning stunts our thinking, by telling us what to believe rather than allowing us to discover our beliefs for ourselves, and then modify them when warranted. Because of this, the didactic transmission of knowledge actually hinders our ability to discover self-knowledge, understanding, self-worth, and […] Read more »
Beware of flowery platitudes that sound wise and spiritual, while actually articulating nothing at all. They are generalizations that lack context, and are meant to easily unite people together without the need to provide depth or substance. Spirituality is able to go intellectually, emotionally, and physically deeper, and does so through providing the proper context, it answers a myriad of key questions, and it promotes further questioning—thus spirituality furthers our […] Read more »
The quality of our lives is determined by the quality of our thinking. The quality of our thinking, in turn, is determined by the quality of our questions, for questions are the engine, the driving force behind thinking. Without questions, we have nothing to think about. Without essential questions, we often fail to focus our thinking on the significant and substantive. When we ask essential questions, we deal with what […] Read more »