What people want, I've heard over and over again, is HOW TO material. How to nail. How to hammer. How to knit. How to sew. I couldn't see myself providing any of that.

And then it hit me. There is one How To area I'm rather an expert in, and where I'd be delighted to give tips and pointers. How To Think.

Today - How To Think tip number one.

****

But first, three things. One. I do care about good thinking - I'm also having fun writing this. If you're reading this, I hope you too both care about good thinking and are having fun.

Two. Maybe, like me, you're one of the people sometimes frustrated by common inner barriers against thinking well. In that case, the tip may be useful for you with other people.

Three. My experience is that most people are not pleased with How To Think information. One is likely to come up against:

I'm entitled to my opinion. (More on this here.)
All opinions are equal.
I know what I believe.
Who are you to say that there's something wrong with my thinking?

One response is to directly tackles the opinion that all opinions are equal:
http://www.elsas-word-story-image-idea-music-emporium.com/the-idea-emporium-stupid-opinion-2.html

Today's response. If I saw someone hammering their fingers, few would dispute that How To Hammer tips might be helpful. The person might even appreciate learning how to get a nail into the wall without sacrificing a finger in the process.

But How To Think - that's another story.

Why is that? That's another question altogether.

****

Here I will give just one big pointer that helps enormously with thinking.

TIP NUMBER ONE. Whatever the idea/thought/opinion/belief, ask this question: If this is so, what are the ramifications? Or more simply, if this is so, what does this mean? And if answering that question leads to nonsense, then the original belief also does not make sense.

Example. Many people hold that "everything happens for a reason." One student (I'm a college teacher) is convinced her younger brother got cancer for a reason - he's become a much more caring person.

If this is so, what does it mean? It means that for some god or cosmic force, the best way to teach her younger brother to be nicer, was to give him cancer.

Next step. Does it make any sense that some god or cosmic force could only teach, or would prefer to teach, her younger brother to be nicer by giving him cancer?

Another student asserts that, if it hadn't been for the Holocaust, Jews wouldn't have a country of their own.

Again, does it make sense that some deity or cosmic force held it would be good for Jews to have a country, but could only achieve that goal - or preferred to achieve it - by having six million Jews murdered?

It does not make sense.

There's a zero violence tolerance at my college. But for many people, it's fine if a deity or cosmic force metes out horror. Slavery. Rape. Murder and mayhem. Genocide. It happens for a reason, they say.

I say, think it through. That tenet makes no sense.

Yes, one can learn from horrors. But it makes no sense that some god or cosmic force can only get us to grow by having us endure calamity after calamity.

By the way, yes, it does make sense that things have causes - environmental, historic, genetic. It makes no sense, though, that everything we are living is happening for "a reason" - for some lesson, whatever that may be.

And that's it for How To Think tip number one.

The tip, once again: Think things through. Figure out: if this belief/idea/opinion is true, what other things must also be true?

****

For more thinking through, here's Stupid Opinion Number One - the opinion that we are all where we are meant to be. Try thinking that one through! Here's what I came up with:

http://www.elsas-word-story-image-idea-music-emporium.com/the-idea-emporium-stupid-opinion-1.html

What if someone responds with, you're bringing up stuff that's too extreme? That brings us to How To Think tip number two. Coming soon.

****

What's your favorite How To Think tip? And if you try my question on someone, how do they respond?

signed,

Elsa
April 1, 2007 - but this is no April fooling

  

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2007
publishing house - FlufferDuff Impressions 2007

top of page

Click here for The Rage of the Righteous,
an idea piece.

For another "favorite" stupid opinion,
click here for Stupid Opinion #Two.

Opt-in for Updates
NEWSLETTER

The Idea Emporium - why and what

One of my lifelong concerns has been trying to make sense of reality. What is happening? Why is this happening? And with that I come to ideas - ideas about reality, ideas that need to be checked against reality, not just believed in like the tooth fairy is accepted by a child. But how does one check them? What qualifies as proof, as evidence?

And why, so often, is evidence of no interest to people? We have masses of evidence of how good many people are at denying evidence when it goes against what they believe. Millions have denied, and continue to deny the equality of women and men, of Jews and nonJews, of atheists and Muslims, gays and heterosexuals. People are incredible experts at denying reality - what is seen, experienced. Of course we need to interpret reality - we do not know it "pure" but through our limited senses, our limited memory, our limited ability to perceive and make sense of the amazing array of information that does gets perceived.

Still, it boggles the even slightly rational mind - how can so many people be so utterly blind to, let's say, findings about nutrition? It amazed me to find out, when I was growing up, that there was evidence for the health benefits of whole grains over refined products - because masses of people stuck with white flour, white rice, white sugar. How could they be so closed to evidence? Somehow they had a wall against the evidence.

The ideas I want to explore are those that go with, not against, the evidence, that try to make sense of evidence.

So, the Idea Emporium - a place for ideas.
The Idea Emporium - a place where ideas are explored.
The Idea Emporium - a place where ideas are entertained , played with,
looked at from many angles.
The Idea Emporium, a place where ideas are evaluated.

What is an idea, by the way. I hadn't thought of that when I chose the name of The Idea Emporium. It just seemed the obviously right name. It was months before I realized I had a hard time putting into words what I meant by idea. I began to think about the word. Sentences with the word, idea, floated into my mind. Like, "I have an idea. Why don't we order pizza?" That was an eye-opener for me.

My guess is that most of us use the word without knowing exactly what it means. "I have an idea of what we might do. Maybe we could go out for Chinese food. But It's just an idea" - meaning this need not come to pass, but we think it might be fun. That is obviously not what I meant by idea.

"I have an idea. Maybe you left your hat in the car." Again, no

""My idea is that we go in together and talk to her." No.

These are all legitimate uses of the term, idea, but it's not what I meant when I came to name The Idea Emporium. And I'm sure it's not what people might expect if they click on The Idea Emporium - because it's not what most people mean by the word "idea."

Word has a built-in dictionary. This is what it says:

Idea -
a personal opinion or belief;
a thought to be presented as a suggestion;
an impression or knowledge of something;
a realization of a possible way of doing something or of something to be done;
the aim or purpose of a plan or project;
the gist or précis of something such as a book, report, project or plan;
a thought about or mental picture of something such as a future or possible event;
a concept that exists in the mind only;
a mental image that reflects reality.

The last is what I'm most interested in - ideas that reflect reality as well as possible. But I've decided that I like it that idea is such a wide term.

Here I am taking idea to mean (and I think this is what most of us think of when we think of the meaning of the word, idea) some thought one has about something. "I have an idea" - meaning, I am not sure this concept fits reality, but it is a hypothesis I have formed.

I also think that, when I named The Idea Emporium, I was blurring words together in my mind - idea, concept, conception, understanding, hypothesis.

The Idea Emporium - a place for all these things.

This is not the same as people having "an idee fixe" - meaning, a fixed idea, a rigid belief that something is one way or another.
The sooner people get rid of such ideas, the better. The Idea Emporium is not a place to set out rock-hard beliefs and stone people with them, hurling them like missiles at all and any that come within striking range.

That is not The Idea Emporium.

The Idea Emporium - a place to present and explore ideas - for now my ideas.

That does not mean the idea need to be timidly set forth, all hemming and hawing, tentative even when the evidence is strong.

The Idea Emporium – the goal is smart opinions, critical thought, perception, good analysis.

The Idea Emporium. Smart opinions - meaning, drawing on every resource possible, rather than "it's my opinion, that's why I believe it, and it's as good as yours any day. Who are you to say blacks can do math, women can learn to read, Jews deserve to live. I have every right to my opinion." Personally, I'd rather do my best to think well, but many others are clearly proud of their avowed right to be thoughtless.

That's not The Idea Emporium.

The Idea Emporium. Critical thought - that means we do our best to think well, to apply logic, information, all our capacities.

The Idea Emporium. Good analysis. Again, that means we try to ensure that we use valid arguments - not, "because it's my opinion," "because I say so" "because I know that's right" "because my god says so" "because everyone knows that's right" . We both draw conclusions from evidence (so there may be evidence showing patterns and tendencies in certain groups (for instance, I've done lots of research on the impact of rights movements on those who get involved, and have found lots of evidence for patterns of response) - and at the same time we are careful not to generalize, to draw conclusions beyond what we have evidence for, and even contradicting the evidence ("Women are ..." "Muslims believe ..." "everyone this happens to ..." "Jews are..." "Gays are ..."

The Idea Emporium. Perception. Not easy to perceive. We each do it through a filter of experience, memory, assumptions, and so on. We have all learned not to perceive many things - denial - and to magnify other things. The goal at The Idea Emporium (and this should be the goal everywhere) is to be as perceptive - taking in as much information - as possible.

The Idea Emporium. i could go on and on. But this is enough for a start. More important now to put it into action - because it's ideas came first, surging inside me, wanting to find a place to be heard.

I'm (among other things) a college teacher, so my teaching gives me one outlet for my ideas, to express them, modify them, listen to other ideas, test the evidence, the power (or lack thereof) of different arguments.

But that hasn't been enough for me. One small class at a time.

I have a sense that I have some ideas that could be valuable to many people - ideas many people don't have (many have very different ideas), ideas where my ideas may help other people struggling with some of the same concerns, and so on. I think these ideas could help make some kind of positive difference in the world, reach people who are reachable, maybe even break through some shells many people live inside, shells that stop them from perceiving things.

There will be space for the ideas of others as well. Right now I am starting with a few ideas of mine. But I envisage that The Idea Emporium is a place that will grow, enriching both others and also myself - that I and my ideas will grow from some of what comes back.

Elsa
July 30, 2006

copyright © Elsa Schieder 2006
publishing house - FlufferDuff Impressions 2006

Questions - on rage, hatred, narcissism, empathy, caring, peace.
Good thinking and analysis. Logic plus emotion.
The Idea Emporium - facts, ideas, conclusions.
Plus stupid opinions exposed.

Opt-in for Updates
NEWSLETTER

IDEA * EVALUATION * CONCLUSION * INSIGHT * COMMENTARY * CONTROVERSY * INTELLECTUAL CONFLICTS * CONFLICTING VERSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS * DIFFICULT AREAS * OPINION * WELL-REASONED OPINION * UNFOUNDED OPINION * STUPID OPINION * THEORY * THEORIZING * FEMINIST THEORIES * PERCEPTION * PERCEPTIONS * PERSPECTIVES * PSYCHOANALYTICAL THEORIES *
ENVORINMENTAL CONCERNS * ANALYSIS * DISCOVERING UNDERLYING CAUSES * AMBIVALENCES * AMBIGUITIES * FEAR OF AND RAGE AGAINST IDEAS * FEAR OF EXPRESSING IDEAS *
ANTI-THINKING TORRORISM * ANTI-INTELLECTUAL TERRORISM * FALLACIES * FLAWED REASONING *
THE RAGE AGAINST UNWANTED IDEAS * THE RAGE AGAINST UNWANTED VISONS OF REALITY *
BLINKERS AGAINST PERCEPTION * BARRIERS TO THINKING * BARRIERS TO REASONING *
INTELLECTUAL STIMULATION * STIMULATING IDEAS * FERTILE THOUGHT * VIEWPOINTS * UNDERSTANDINGS * COMPLEXITIES * UNCERTAINTIES * GUESSES * HUNCHES *
FACTS * GUT FEELINGS ABOUT THINGS * EXPLORING IDEAS * EXPLORATIONS OF IDEAS *
THE IDEA EMPORIUM * THE IDEA EMPORIUM * THE IDEA EMPORIUM * THE IDEA EMPORIUM
EXPERIMENTS TO VERIFY IDEAS * REALITIES * REASONING * IN-DEPTH ANALYSIS *
THOUGHT OF THE DAY * PERCEPTION * PERSPECTIVE * DATA * INFORMATION *
OPINION PIECES * LOGICAL THINKING * CRITICAL THOUGHT * INTELLECTUAL LAZINESS * IDEA
THE IDEA EMPORIUM

___________________________________________

comments, responses, further thinking, more ideas
__________________________________________

---

more ...

 

 

THE IDEA EMPORIUM
A CELEBRATION OF GOOD THINKING

THE IDEA EMPORIUM
NO HOLDS BARRED THINKING

THE IDEA EMPORIUM
LOOK AT ANYTHING, ASK ANYTHING

LOOK ANYWHERE

PLUS, LOOK AT THE JOURNEY

 

 

"It is a fact readily acknowledged,
that for humans,
an idea is much more powerful
than a fact."

 

WHEN I HEARD THAT,
I HAD A EUREKA MOMENT.
YES, I HAD SEEN THAT SO OFTEN.

 

SOME OF US ALREADY LOVE GOOD THINKING.

BUT GOOD THINKING IS POSSIBLE
FOR ALMOST ALL OF US,
JUST LIKE EVEN A COUCH POTATO
CAN GET INTO SHAPE!

SO, FOR THE THINKERS
AND THE POTENTIAL THINKERS

CLICK HERE
TO SUBSCRIBE 
FREE UPDATES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SUBSCRIBE
TO FREE UPDATES

Opt-in for Updates
NEWSLETTER

 

 

 

 

top of page

 

 

site design, site construction - Elsa Schieder
copyright © Elsa Schieder, 2006-2008 - all rights reserved
copyright © elsas-word-story-image-idea-music-emporium.com, 2006-2008 - all rights reserved
an all round creative space, creativity emporium and creativity match space
CLICK HERE TO CONTACT

Elsa
of
elsas word story image idea music emporium.com