Thinking Critically

“Comfort is no test of truth. Truth is often far from being comfortable.” — Swami Vivekananda

This blog will be about many ideas, with topics ranging from the theological to the scientific. Many of them will be controversial; many will be politically un-correct. That’s how it’s going to be, because the goal of my writing is to get to the truth of things, and the truth does not care about people’s opinions. No matter the topic or circumstance, truth is a good thing and something worth working hard for. The underlying purpose of this blog is to get people to think critically, and find a passion for truth. I will attempt to disprove many misconceptions people have about the topics of theology, science, philosophy, etc. and this will result in some opinions of mine which are very controversial to come out.

One of the most unfortunate human psychological tendencies is the quick willingness we all have to simply dismiss an idea because it “sounds wrong,” crazy, or doesn’t easily fit into a worldview already held.

This is an objectively illogical way to consider new ideas.

This line of thinking can be a manifestation of several logical fallacies (reactive emotional reasoning, cognitive bias, hasty generalizations, straw manning, ad hominem, poisoning the well) and is always an example of a non-sequitur. To be frank, however crazy the idea may sound, your opinion about it before you give it a chance and check out the strongest evidence for it is irrelevant to whether it is true or not.

Consider the evidence — the best evidence on both sides — or your assumed conclusions about it are worthless. I’m not saying people should not be allowed to have opinions on subjects they aren’t experts about. Everyone is entitled and free to have an opinion on anything they want. Unfortunately, the truth is, an uninformed opinion is an incomplete one, at best.

Nobody who only considers one side of an argument is a reliable source for a non-biased conclusion regarding both sides. You can’t know what you don’t know. It’s been said that “it is the mark of an educated mind to entertain an idea without accepting it.” Those who reject an idea simply because they don’t accept it outright are thinking illogically, and must learn to entertain the possibility with an open mind, consider it’s potential, look at the evidence, and only then decide if it is true or false.

This blog will be about choosing the right path, even when — especially when — it’s the harder one. The truth usually does not coincide with the easier way to do things. It’s usually the harder decision that is the right one. For Christ, this meant giving up His life. For His followers, it meant giving up their possessions and life plans and giving their lives to God. I see difficult change to be the mark of a morally right decision; this is not always the case, but I think it is a pretty reliable marker. Because of this, most of my writing will deal with the implications of the truth regarding certain things, and usually these things will oppose what the majority opinion on that subject is. Since the truth is usually found along the harder path, the majority of people avoid both the truth and that path. But the harder path is what I suggest we all cling to, as it is the path to actualizing our potential and being the best versions of ourselves.

If you are a Christian, could you imagine God would want for you anything less than for you to be the best version of yourself? Jesus said that we must be perfect as God is perfect, that nothing unclean enters Heaven, and that we must take up our cross daily and follow Him in order to perfect ourselves. Being stagnant in our beliefs, actions, and lifestyles is not what God wants for us. He wants us to improve upon ourselves constantly — we are at any moment either moving forward or sliding backward. He wants us to be the best version of ourselves so we can, in turn, be better imitators of Christ.

To do this is very hard. The more truth you know, the harder life is if you want to live according to that truth. If you know the truth but do not live according to it, your conscience and soul may suffer the consequences. God has placed this desire to do good in us, and once we know what the good is, we will always be drawn to it no matter how much we attempt to resist. This is because God is the source of all good, and all truth, which is always good. If you know the truth and live according to it, your life will become much harder, but it will be most profitable to you and others who receive the good fruits of your resulting actions.

I’m going to recommend that my readers change a lot of things about the way they live their lives. I understand people do not like this. People do not enjoy being told what to do, especially if it requires difficult change. But still, this is what I will do because change is necessary, and if we only did what we or others wanted us to do, no important or difficult change would occur, and we would not be living as we ought. Unfortunately, those who get most bothered by suggestions to change are the people that need it most.

Finally, to those who think that the things I recommend you change are insignificant; that you can go on living your life as is without changing yourself because you don’t want to or don’t have the time: I’d suggest that you consider the possibility that no choice is insignificant. All of your choices not only literally create neural pathways in your brain which create habits and make you more likely to recreate those actions which made those pathways, but in your soul, a similar thing occurs which results in an overall, characteristic change in the personality of your soul. I’ll leave you with this quote by C.S. Lewis which describes this well:

“Everytime you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself. To be the one kind of creature is heaven: that is, it is joy and peace and knowledge and power. To be the other means madness, horror, idiocy, rage, impotence, and eternal loneliness. Each of us at each moment is progressing to one state or the other.”