How to Rethink Your World: A Guide to Challenging Assumptions

To think well is to rethink constantly. Consistently rethinking our realities is the easiest way to arrive at truth.

We have an unhealthy tendency to cling to constructs, dogmas, and wisdom as if they are permanent, immutable truths. Our language itself is constructed to reassert our illusions. We artificially silo knowledge into different domains — science, religion, philosophy, ethics, and arts — and treat the current paradigms within those domains as gospel.

But the reality is that all our intellectual, spiritual, and creative frameworks are provisional and incomplete at best. The universe is a constant flow of transformation, and our models and beliefs need to stay in a perpetual process of revision, reinvention, and re-imagination to keep up.

Reality is a flux, a process of becoming. It is foolish to hold onto a state of being. We should begin by rethinking the very fundamentals of our conceptual tools.

In the field of knowledge, every new insight is seamlessly absorbed as yet another piece of the canon rather than disrupting prior paradigms. It might be beneficial to fundamentally rethink the very foundations and categorizations on which knowledge fundamentally rests. Perhaps, we should reinvent the entire notion of what it means to be fundamental.

The notion of absoluteness — some mystical beginning or ending — leads even ethical systems of thought to stand on shaky ground. Our most cherished values and precepts have shifted over time, sometimes to the extreme opposite end of the spectrum of thought. One civilization’s self-evident moralities were another’s depravities.

We should question whether our current comfortable notions of right and wrong won’t be seen as horrendously misguided by future generations.

Maybe systems of thought would benefit greatly from the intrinsic drive of constant reimagination and revaluation that takes place in the arts. We seem to have an innate drive for synthetic realities and simulated constructs. But we must resist the temptation to treat our own invented paradigms and frameworks as anything other than works of fiction in constant need of an update and rewrite.

In every domain, we must become dedicated editors and critics of our presumptions — this is the honest way. To constantly undo each increasingly obsolete certainty. Our task is to realize that even our most seemingly unshakable foundations are destined to eventually liquefy and give way to new radical conceptualizations.

They will, whether we permit it or not. Wouldn’t it be better to be conscious participants of this shift?

It is an obligation to rethink, review, reinvent, and reimagine — in science, philosophy, mysticism, ethics, art, and in every realm of human endeavor. Furiously deconstruct dogmas. Those still paying fealty to litanies of settled-upon-ness risk becoming outmoded relics themselves. The only permanence is ceaseless change.

It won’t be easy. It will definitely lead to turbulence in thought. So what? Let us embrace that creative turbulence as an existential imperative.

But how does one do it?

Identify and Rethink Your Core Assumptions You cannot rethink what you don’t understand. The first step then is to gain knowledge. And we’re at the best time in history to do it. Never has gaining knowledge been so fantastically easy.

To rethink anything, we must lay bare the core underlying assumptions that support the prevailing idea, theory, or model. Often these assumptions are so baked into the framework, that they become invisible premises. Rethinking requires surfacing them.

For centuries, the geocentric model of the universe rested on the core assumption that the Earth was motionless at the center of all heavenly revolutions. Identifying and questioning this premise allowed radical rethinking.

Thought Inversion One creative way to rethink is through inversion — flipping your perspective to directly reverse one or more core assumptions. Look at the diametric opposite possibility, no matter how counter-intuitive.

Reality is not linear, but our brain loves patterns. By inverting an assumption and actively questioning the obvious, we can unlock solutions that are usually overlooked due to a focus on the conventional approach. Even if the fully inverted idea is not practical, it can still push the boundaries of thinking.

Seafaring navigation was notoriously difficult and dangerous before the invention of accurate methods to determine longitudes at sea. But, determining longitudes required precise astronomical knowledge and complex calculations to track celestial bodies.

This idea was inverted with an outrageous idea: what if instead of looking to the stars, the solution lay in having an incredibly accurate clock right there on the ship? This led to the invention of the marine chronometer, a highly precise clock. It could maintain accurate time at sea, even with the ship’s motion and temperature changes. Knowing the exact time at a reference point (Greenwich), and the local time, a sailor could calculate longitude.

The marine chronometer revolutionized navigation. It directly contradicted the long-held belief that solving the longitude problem required advanced astronomical knowledge by instead focusing on a seemingly unrelated area: precision timekeeping.

Import Remote Perspectives — Make Idea Babies by Mixing Unrelated Domains
We often unconsciously adopt the ingrained viewpoint of our particular domain. Rethinking means transcending those blinders by purposefully incorporating wildly different perspectives from remote fields or cultures. Different fields have unique sets of assumptions. Cross-pollination can expose us to new ways of thinking, prompting us to question our own biases and blind spots.

If you’re an artist, study mathematics. If you’re an engineer, study biology. An entire field of engineering is dedicated to studying aspects of biology to apply them in solving engineering problems. Velcro fasteners mimic burrs that stick to animal fur, and self-cleaning surfaces take a cue from lotus leaves.

Quantum theory, for instance, rethinks the particle/wave problem by integrating viewpoints across physics, mathematics, philosophy, Eastern mysticism, and more.

Time Travel Your Mind
Our thinking exists in a context deeply shaped by our current times and circumstances. Rethinking from a future or past perspective can jar loose stale mindsets.

Our current mindset is heavily influenced by the immediate problems, trends, and technologies of today. This limits our ability to see beyond the obvious or envision radically different possibilities.

Take imaginative leaps.

Mentally project yourself into the past or future. Question your assumptions about what’s possible or what constitutes “progress.” Gain historical insights. Understand how people in the past solved problems, without our current technology or insights. Envision potential futures to consider the long-term consequences of our actions. This will help us identify necessary changes in the present.

The mind has granaries of untapped time. We are rich enough to travel through time — not just horizontally, but vertically as well.

Change the Medium
Sometimes our thoughts are trapped by the particular language, symbols, or tools we use. Translating an idea or theory into an entirely new medium of expression can open novel insights.

Changing the medium exposes hidden assumptions. Different mediums have inherent strengths and limitations. When we force an idea into a new form, we have to grapple with those limitations, exposing what assumptions we might be taking for granted in our usual approach. A visual representation of a complex problem might reveal patterns or connections that a written form obscured.

Each medium requires its own skills to manipulate. By necessity, we will activate underutilized creative or analytical abilities when switching mediums. Additionally, the act of translating into a new medium often requires metaphorical thinking, creating unexpected analogies that can deepen our understanding of the original concept.

This is just a start — there are infinite creative approaches to questioning fundamentals and reopening our minds to rethinking anything. The key is to actively resist operating solely within inherited confines of thought — we can, and should, rethink everything.