Tag: education
The Lens of Self
This (below) is audio from you tube of a commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace.
Towards the end of Part I DFW refers to the cliché that has richer import: “The mind makes a wonderful servant but a terrible master.”
In Part II DFW avoids blithe encouragement and instead chooses to impart wisdom about culture and maturity, and what a good education gives a person. (Not that one can readily find this at a learning institution these days. But the ideal is worth adventuring for at any age and in any environment.)
He made this speech only 3 years before he took his own life. Chilling qualities aside, I share this with you now because his address to graduates is not the sort of thing you hear at commencements. It’s potently honest and unwraps what it means to “be taught to think”…and what adulthood is really like and other great stuff.
I think hearing it is deeply beneficial and I truly hope you enjoy it, friends.
Part II.
To read the transcript click here.
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Thinking Class: 1st session
(POSTER BELOW)
I look around at the wars of words, the polarizing gridlock that has shutdown the Federal government (as if that could truly happen) and listen to talking heads both liberal and non liberal spew illogical nonsense. But then I realize! Most of what I hear is illogical and most arguments are irrational.
Let me explain.
Most things people say are opinions and are therefore unreasonable (in the true sense of the word: “lacking reason”). Because opinions tend to be based on emotions or other arbitrary factors they lack logic. In two to four seconds on any cable news station you’ll hear it.
This situation becomes even more apparent as you learn Critical Thinking formally.
When I learned about critical thinking and logical fallacies in depth in graduate school, I thought, why didn’t they teach us how to think in high school or at least in liberal arts university? (I mean isn’t the whole point of education to help you to think better? Apparently not…Silly me.)
So, yes. We literally are not taught to think well. Usefully. Thoughtfully.
That’s because it turns out that teaching people how to think independently is wildly dangerous and threatening. (Crazy, right?!)
It can upset the balance of power. That means it’s considered far better to cultivate “sheep” that follow the herd directed by the powerful instead of helping people think well using critical methods. So, we have the predicament best epitomized on cable news. Screaming and hysteria and irrational arguments aplenty! The crazies are running everything it seems.
When we stop simply believing what we are told and follow a true logical format to discover main arguments or separate opinion from facts, it can cause…wait for it…thoughtful questioning. Empires have fallen for less than that!
Critical thinking is rare and utilizing it may necessitate that answers involve reason. Serious repercussions indeed!
Why would a school (or any group exerting power) purposefully put itself in a position to be knocked off its pins by newly rational thinkers? Well, they avoid that very thing. The point is to engender obedience and conformity: Teach people in a (factory-style) system that gets them to think how we want them to and agree with us, otherwise it’s anarchy, and we can’t have that!
(See why thinking well is so rare?)
Imagine: What if you think something out of sync with your club, church, political party, or social sphere? Look out. A bumper crop of fallacies will likely be lobed at you like poop grenades! You are SUPPOSED to keep in line. Gosh, duh…you are not accepted for your ability to think outside the expectations and presuppositions of your group. So, remember, if you plan to use critical thinking be prepared to be demonized.
The worst threat of all for anyone in power is to encourage independent thinking, let alone teach it. Learning logical fallacies can lead to innovation and change and much apple cart upsetting. It’s a threat to media outlets, propagandists, governments, authorities, parents, policemen, and nearly every institution.
Below is the first poster I designed to teach (critical) thinking. Stayed tuned for more coming in the next few days.
If you’d like more people to learn how to think better, pass it along.
It could help someone.
(click to enlarge)
Click here for an extensive list of fallacies.
To see the other posters I’ve done on fallacies, use the sidebar and search for “logical”
Fear is Jail
Fear is jail.
The world has so much information to offer.
Libraries, schools, experts, and the troves of resources on the internet make learning almost anything possible.
But is success probable? Only sometimes.
Education and information don’t create success. If it did, success would be simple and assured.
Since it’s not, there’s always some psychology to understand first.
Namely, fear.
Despite the resources, we hit bumps. We stagnant. We get discouraged. We give up too soon.
We are both afraid to fail and afraid to succeed. We fear the unknown and the too familiar. We fear change and we fear sameness.
Just knowing this can take a few teeth out of fear and can give us a cell key.
Information can help us through our fear. It’s a tool, key. But, we can sit in a cell whose door is wide open.
We assume information is the solution sometimes. It’s certainly not.
That’s why when you make resources and opportunities available to a frightened population success is still rare.
People–whether they know it or not–get stuck being afraid. Jailed.
But, back to the key: Information.
We live in a time were we can pick so many things for ourselves. The rich and powerful used to corner this market. Not just recently in the Industrial Age, but in every age. Social classes, gender, skin color and many other inescapable factors determined what you could accomplish in a lifetime. No more.
But so much will stop us. So, back to fear. It must be tamed. Always.
A path, a formula, or expert advice make wading through a bit easier. But here is the best key: As we utilize our resources we sill have to be honest that we are fearful and it affects us greatly.
If you sense that you aren’t moving forward, or you’re distracting your self routinely, ask yourself some hard questions about what you fear.
Armed with those answers you can push through if you get brave. Fear will be back of course, but you’ll be more prepared for it. You’ll do battle again and again. Know your enemy. Use your tools. Work your key.
Love and Hate and MLK
These are some of my favorite quotes from The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”
‘An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”
“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education. ”
“A nation or civilization that continues to produce soft-minded men purchases its own spiritual death on the installment plan.”
“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”