Updated:
08/01/10
CHAPTER
15
LEARNING TO THINK
It
may seem ironic to some of you that a subject like learning to think should be
included in this book on the HONEST MAN'S
PHILOSOPHY. I am ashamed to say it is very necessary. Thinking has been
replaced in our society by belief and obedience. Only in the areas of science,
law and math has thinking been allowed even a small amount of breathing room.
Sad to say, science still has its sacred dogmas that often prevent thinking.
Even though most of the scientific dogmas of the past dark Christian era have
been proven wrong, these dogmas still cling and seek to dictate certain beliefs
as though these dogmas were divine, especially in history, geology,
anthropology and archeology.
There
is strong evidence that the science of the very ancient past did some things
that our modern science still relegates to the area of magic, myth and wishful
thinking. Many scientific breakthroughs have come through people who ignored
the fact that the scientific community solemnly declared, "It can't be
done it is against every scientific principle known to man." But these
thinkers and tinkers went right on anyway and invented the airplane, the
submarine, steam engine, electric lights, the movie projector, television,
radio and on and on the list goes. It might also be interesting to note, many
of the great scientists and inventors were Clear Thinking Atheists, such as
Franklin, Edison, Burbank and Tesla.
It
has always been Honest Personal Clear Thinking that brought us our advancements
in science, social relationships, government and personal welfare. In order to
look at thinking, we will also have to look at the mental activities that are
often called thinking, but which are not. There are four known types of mind
activities that are often called thinking. First, there is “Believing” often
called Faith. Next, there is “Memory.” Third, there is “Inspiration.” Finally,
there is “Logic.”
In
dealing with Belief or Believing, one must understand that the fundamental
basis of faith or belief is the Absence of thinking. That is, Believing is
accepting as a truth, or as a fact, something spoken or written by another
person. Note here what is spoken or written may or may not be the truth. That
is not the issue. The issue is, if someone accepts as true what someone else
says or writes, and does so without comparing the pros and cons, that person is believing and they are not thinking. To believe one must
accept as true what is written or spoken without question and without any
factual investigation into the foundations of the matter. If one questions,
compares contrary facts, and investigates Both sides
of the matter and draws his conclusions from his investigation, he is thinking
and not believing.
Believing
is generally passed off as thinking because the believer holds some definite
political, theological, philosophical or economical position. Trying to justify
a position, or trying to prove some point of belief is not a true
Aggressive thinking exercise. Clear Thinking is never defensive. It is always
Aggressive. Clear Thinking is not looking to prove or defend some point. Clear
Thinking is always looking for the Truth of the matter.
CLEAR THINKING IS ALWAYS HUNTING
FOR THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER.
People
will read and reread some statement made in a political or religious book or
paper. When it sounds as though the statement must be right, and when someone
they accept as an authority writes it, they give up and believe it. From then
on, they are a defender and evangelist of that position and that claim. The
trouble is if a good propagandist is allowed to ignore contrary evidence to his
position, he can be very persuasive. He can make his case easy to believe by
twisting the truth just a bit, leaving out important facts and building upon a
foundation that may have no truth in it at all. Thus, one can never really
think if he reads or studies only what One Side has to say about a subject. He
can only believe or disbelieve. If he honestly doubts and investigates both sides
of a matter, he has begun to truly think.
One
does not believe something that he knows for sure. One should not believe
something that he can know for sure. The square root of nine is three.
One does not believe such a statement. It is a logical fact determined by
experiment and thinking. To Believe the square root of
nine is three is to express one's mental immaturity or one's ignorance.
Mathematics is logical, demonstrable facts. No one Believes
an answer to a math problem. They either find out the answer or they don't.
There is no room in math or science for trying to understand something, or to
"get the answer" through believing. Now, apply that to everything.
To
believe is to ignore the science of the mind. There is only room for logical
thought, or the absence of logical thought. (The same is true of all life.)
Math is simply an exact language that can deal in some fashion with most
questions of life, with the situations and conflicts and with the truth in any
of its many forms. Clear Thinking is an exact method of separating fact from
fiction. It is the ability to arrive at conclusions that are in harmony with
those facts.
Believing
is the opposite of thinking. Believing is simply non-thinking. Believing is the
escape of the lazy minded, the brain washed, the weak, the fearful and those
who want something for nothing. Some people want knowledge without studying and
thinking in order to obtain it.
Next,
there is Memorization, which often passes itself off as thinking. To remember
what others have said or written does not constitute thinking. A tape recorder
can remember word for word, but no one considers this thinking. Memory can be a
valuable asset to thinking, but it is not thinking. There are retarded people
who can remember word for word what others have said or done even though years
may have elapsed. To remember is not the same activity as thinking.
Third,
there is a mental activity called Inspiration or Insight, but again such mental
activity is not thinking. Insight is, however, a close cousin to thinking.
Indeed, Insight or Inspiration coupled with pure logical thinking has often
resulted in great leaps forward in the sciences, philosophy, economics and
social sciences. According to psychologists and psychiatrists, (they appear to
best explain the phenomenon) mental activity can occur on at least two levels.
First, thinking can occur on the conscious level where logic is used (or not
used) and next, on the subconscious level where random patterns or ideas occur.
The problem with this subconscious pattern is, whatever comes forth seems like
reality. That is, ideas from the subconscious, at first glance, always seem to
be workable, usable and correct. The problem is such ideas are more often
exactly the opposite. Most often, they are unworkable, unusable and untrue to
the facts of the matter. From the subconscious have come some of the best and
some of the worst ideas.
Many
theories and pronouncements have come forward from scientists, psychologists,
psychiatrists and others about the subconscious part of mind and how it works.
The only real agreement among them is that there is a subconscious part of mind
and it does pop ideas and concepts into the conscious mind. Basically they also
agree one can learn to put problems into the subconscious mind and hope for an
insight to arrive one day. But what comes out ranges from the ridiculous to the
startling leap forward.
Most
of the subconscious mind's offerings are totally unusable and they do not stand
the test of logical thinking. The majority of these subconscious revelations
come in the form of dreams. There are those who can allow the subconscious
dreams to enter the conscious mind while they are awake, or in some type of
trance. Most religions seem to be the product of someone's subconscious mind
that is then offered to others in a greatly enhanced and decorated form. Most
of these religious "Revelations" that gush up from people's
subconscious minds cannot be logically understood or proven. They can only be
believed or rejected by the hearer. (We will have more to say about revelations
in Chapter 21.) There is little more one can say about the subconscious mind
based upon facts, so let's move on to the last mind activity, Logical Thinking.
I
will define Real Thinking like this:
THINKING IS THE LOGICAL, ORDERLY,
MENTAL PROCESS OF SEARCHING FOR ALL THE KNOWN AND PROVABLE FACTS ABOUT A MATTER
AND DRAWING CONCLUSIONS THAT REMAIN TRUE TO ALL THE KNOWN AND PROVABLE FACTS.
You
might wish to read that definition again and think about it for a few minutes.
It sums up the core concept of Honest Clear Thinking (and Atheism).
The
dictionaries offer many and varied definitions for the words "Think"
and "Thinking.” The majority of those definitions refer to the concept of
"Believe,” or "Hope,” or to hold a “conscious thought.” But who knows
what a conscious thought is? Who can say a horse or a dog doesn't have a
conscious thought? Some of the work being done with apes and dolphins has
proven they can communicate, ask for things, answer
questions and separate complicated thoughts and questions. And they comprehend
the "I and me" as themselves.
Thinking
as used in our context means:
Thinking
means the ability to logically determine what are the true facts, and then to
process that information and those facts in order to arrive at conclusions that
are in harmony with all the known facts.
So,
of the four major activities called thinking, only the last one is actually
qualified to carry the definition of thinking. So as not to confuse the issue,
Real Thinking is always referring to the concept of "Logical Thought or
Logical Thinking." It is the use of logical, honest processing of the
known and proven facts to arrive at conclusions that remain true to those
facts.
On
one hand, there is Logical Thought, which is hard work. At times, it is
disappointing, emotionally draining and upsetting Work. On the other hand there
is believing, which is a lazy acceptance, requiring no thought, no analyzation, no effort, no calculations and worst of all,
no rewards. The activity called Belief (or faith) negates all the need for
Honest Clear Thinking. It is demeaning and derogatory to both man and God.
The
main difference between man and the other animals is man's ability to reject
habit, belief, faith, inspiration, insight and impulse in favor of conscious
logical thought and action. When someone asks others to discard their manhood
and mental abilities and to believe the unbelievable, they are belittling the
intelligence of others, slandering their own God (whom they say gave them their
brains), and exposing themselves to the world as charlatans and frauds.
In
order to learn to think logically, one must first unlearn some of the brain
washing that he has been taught by home, school, church and government. “To believe
is to Not engage in logical thought.” To
remember is not thinking. To have the subconscious flash things before the mind
is not thinking. All of those things are easy to do. Logical thought is hard
honest adult work. If it isn't work, it isn't thinking.
To
help you unlearn the brain washing that the institutions have taught you, think
about why you were taught to Believe and to Obey. First, take believing. You
know who teaches you to believe but have you ever asked yourself, Why?
Why
would anyone ask you to believe, or even wish you to believe? Why would anyone
wish you to believe something when they could simply prove their statement to
you? They would then be giving you knowledge and facts. If they had any proof
or facts upon which to base their claims, you would never be asked to believe
anything that was taught by them.
Of
course, the truth is, No One would Ever ask you to believe what they were
telling you “IF” they possessed logical conclusions based on and in harmony
with the known and proven facts. Everyone would rather give you the facts. Then
you would not have to believe - you could Know.
But
what happens when their conclusions are not in harmony with the known facts? Or
yet, what happens when there are no facts at all upon which to base the
conclusions of the teacher? It is at that time, and only then, when the
student (or person) is asked to Believe. Seldom is one asked to believe the
believable.
“Believable”
means a large body of known facts exists that tends to make a certain and definite
conclusion both rational and possible.
Most
often one is asked to believe the Unbelievable.
“Unbelievable”
means there are little, or no, existing facts that will substantiate the claims
made by the teacher or preacher (or salesman etc.)
Often,
in order to cause people to accept the Unbelievable claims, more unbelievable
statements and claims are made. "If you don't believe me and vote for this
man our country will fall to communism." "If you don't believe what I
have just told you and come to the altar you will go to hell." "If
you don't vote for me you will lose your welfare payments." "If you
keep doing that you will go blind." The push to make you believe something
is most often presented with an alternative threat of harm or danger. If you do
not believe and do what is asked of you (obey) bad things will happen to you
both in the present and in the future. Many other false and unsupported
statements and claims are made and the hearer is asked to believe these
compounded, unbelievable and unsupported claims.
The
best teachers in the world will always ask a person to investigate and think.
They will never ask people to believe. In order to unlearn the falsehoods of
the past, one must learn how to distinguish between fact and fiction, between
truth and tall tales, between authenticity and authority. I am asking you to
check up on what I say. Investigate what I am saying, Start thinking about
these things. Exercise your Freedom, your intelligence and your humanity.
Think! Please!
Why
did your God go to so much trouble to give you a good brain if you will not use
it? Are you not denying the gifts of your God? Would any just God give you a
good brain and then forbid you to use it? Are you not spitting in the face of
your God if you refuse to use your brain? Your brain is supposed to judge
between good and evil, between the true and the false, between the helpful and
hurtful.
Any
attempt to get an idea or concept accepted and believed by others must be
suspect from the very start. There are two main methods used to get people to
believe the unbelievable. One is through the use of emotional language and
concepts. The other is through the appeal to some authority.
The
use of emotional language may include a "tear jerking" speech about
our early political founding fathers.
such stories are then followed by statements of
the great debt we owe to these founding fathers. Since we owe this great debt
we must therefore, vote "yes" for somebody or something. In the
pulpit, the preacher or priest will tell of the great suffering of the Son of
God. He will tell made up stories of God’s great love trying to open up the
emotions. Then he will ask people to believe that what he says is the truth.
The emotional appeal simply stated is the telling of an emotionally moving
story then expecting people to believe the story and act as the preacher wants
them to act because the story emotionally moved them. Some women use this
method of proving they are correct. It is called crying.
People
are prepared to fight wars this way. They are prepared to give up their money
or time to their government or religion this way. They are prepared to go into
mob action this way. They are prepared to send money to feed hungry children
(and preachers and priest) this way. But worst of all they are prepared to give
up their thinking ability, their manhood and their humanity this way. Watch out
for the emotional appeals made on radio, television or in person. Someone is
about to take something away from you. It may be your manhood, humanity and
freedom, not to mention your money, time and future.
The
appeal to Authority is simply the attempt to get one to believe or accept
something as true because of Who said it. The
appeal to authority has nothing to do with the facts of the case. It is
simply a trick, a smoke screen that has been very successful for religion,
government and individuals. The appeal to authority simply says something is
true because of Who said it. You often even have to
take their word for that. That is, that the person really did say it.
"Fifty million Frenchmen Can be wrong." If everyone else believes it
then you must also believe it. Belief always wallows in large numbers of
gullible and duped people.
The
president said, "I am not a crook." Another president said, "We
are only sending advisors to Vietnam." The treasurer said, "Our money
is as sound as it ever was. We are only changing our rate of exchange."
The Bible says, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God."
The Constitution says, "All men are created equal." The Bible says,
"God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day."
The KKK says, "Blacks are dumb." Mother says, "Santa Claus will
not come until we go to sleep." The preacher says, "You will go to
hell if you don't believe in Jesus and be saved." The Mayor says,
"New York's bonds are as good as gold." Grandpa says, "I lived
in the good old days." The Bible says, "The wages of sin is
death."
The
appeal to authority is Always a smoke screen to
cover up a shortage of facts with which to support a specific statement, claim
or position. There are two types of people in this world when it comes to
philosophy or religion. There are the doubters and there are the believers.
There are the thinkers and the gullible. There are the intelligent and the
ignorant. The doubters, the thinkers and the intelligent may make up as much as
five to ten percent of the population of the United States. Some estimate as
many as twelve percent of the people may be thinkers in the area of philosophy
and religion. The rest of course, will be the non-thinkers (the believers). If
this sounds a little ridiculous, ask yourself this question. What percentage of
the population are sheep giving of their time and money to religions, cults,
parties and other organizations, which they do because they Believe the
propaganda of these organizations? Don't forget: if you believe you must obey -
and pay.
The
unlearning process is mainly limited to seeing the harmfulness of believing.
After one has seen the harmfulness of believing, he is free and ready to start
thinking. This new open-minded start in life is called being “Born Again.” The first part of thinking is learning to recognize
false statements, misleading statements and false conclusions. This is really
not so difficult when one cultivates the honest doubter's attitude toward what
is said or read. In other words, honestly doubt what is said or written. Then
look at the statement, claim or position for flaws in its cornerstone, content,
context, construction and conclusion.
Movie
stars, sports stars, famous people, and beautiful people are used in ads for
products and ideas. The assumption the seller wishes you to receive is, if you
use certain tobacco products, certain alcoholic products, beauty aids or drive
certain cars, or believe certain things, people will see you as a beautiful,
successful and intelligent person. Anytime you hear, "Nine out of
ten," or the word "survey,” or "test,” doubt it at once! And
run; don't walk, to the nearest exit.
Buy
a good book on logic and study it. Once you learn to think you do not have to
keep going over the same old ground. You begin to see patterns and will be able
to spot falsehoods at a glance. You will soon realize many things are not worth
even thinking about. Religion will soon fall into this category for most
logical thinkers. Just think what you could do with all the time you have been
spending trying to get others to believe unbelievable things. That doesn't
include all the time you have been spending trying to please an uncertain and
wishy-washy God by going to church and meetings. You could be using that time
and money to do some needed good in this world.
Then
don't forget all of the money you will have that you can really use, not only
for helping others but for helping yourself as well. Besides, thinking can be
exciting and lots of fun.
Doubting
helps the honest thinker observe both sides of an issue. Often the thinker will
soon realize both sides of an issue may really just be the same coin with the
back fighting the front. For instance, is Jesus God or man? One side says God
the other side says man. But the careful observer will soon discover, the
question is not "Is Jesus, God or Man?” The question is did he ever
actually exist at all? If so, did he do all of the things that the Bible says
he did? Many scholars give strong evidence that Jesus is simply a composite of
other ancient "saviors.” Then there are the political coins like the
Democrats and the Republicans, same coin (goals) just different views on how to
obtain those goals.
Honest
logical thinking is the core of the Clear Thinking philosophy. Honest thinking
is also the core of personal well being. It produces a
well-rounded, integrated personality. Honest thinking frees the self from false
internal guilt, from so many of the traps of life, from artificial fear and
guilt and from dependence upon the opinion or authority of others. Honest
thinking produces a self-respect and independence that others only vaguely
understand. It produces an honest evaluation of one's abilities and talents. It
produces an honest pride in oneself and in his work. Honest thinking produces a
moral ethic that can be equaled by no other philosophy, and certainly cannot be
equaled by any religion.
Honest
thinking produces a great respect for one's own self and for others. It strikes
down and strips away all of the false basis upon which most people judge other
people. Honest thinking is patient and waits until a person reveals their real
selves.
Thinking
has two secrets. The first is "Honest Doubt.” Honest doubt is the
beginning process of all thinking. Much has already been said about doubt.
Honest Doubt is like a clean sheet of paper. You get to start at the roots of
the matter. You get to draw a line down the center of a clean sheet of paper
and put down on opposite sides what each side has to say about the matter. You
get to evaluate the truthfulness of both claims. You get to form an honest,
informed opinion. And if new facts come forward, you have no problem taking the
new information into your opinion. You do not have to defend your conclusions.
In light of new evidence, you can change your conclusions. Why? You are looking
for the truth.
The
other secret is a bit harder to learn. The second secret is Learning to Ask the
Correct Questions About the Subject. Another way to get to the bottom of a
subject is to find out if the words and ideas keep referring back to an
authority. When there is an authority involved (and there usually is), one
needs to examine it. If that authority is merely quoting or building upon
another authority, one must go even farther back. If the ultimate authority is
a document like the Bible, or the Declaration of Independence, one must dig in
and find out about the document. What for instance, is the authority of the
Bible? Why, it is God! You have arrived at an invisible, unverifiable,
untruthful and indefensible source. That is where the search stops for those
who have done their homework.
Christians
claim Atheists will not engage them in debate (on their terms). And that is the
truth. If you play tic-tac-toe with a child, you know you can only draw or win.
The game is a bore to you in a short time. The child gets frustrated and
hostile. In a debate with a Christian, they wish to establish all the rules and
wish you to accept their false histories and claims as being true. So to debate
a subject with a Christian, the Atheist must go back and give hours of true
history while the Christian quotes from false religious history. Most Atheists
agree it is not worth it. Therefore, a book like this is necessary reading by
the Christians before a proper debate can be held.
If
you are a Clear Thinker, Atheist, Free Thinker, Humanist or Agnostic, you have
already done your homework in this area. There is no need to pursue the subject
any more unless you just have a curiosity about it. You have asked the correct
question, gotten to the root of the matter and you may now honestly conclude
that the statement, or document, holds no new position so far as facts are
concerned.
Instead
of running into a "lost authority" like God, suppose you ran into the
authority of the Declaration of Independence? Now you have something real to
deal with. A study of the Declaration of Independence reveals it had an author
and revisers. The main author was Thomas Paine. Since many people knew that
Paine was also an Atheist, he had to submit his drafts in secret. That fact has
been confirmed by several reputable sources. The main reviser was Thomas
Jefferson. The philosophy of both Thomas Paine (who was undiplomatic) and
Thomas Jefferson (who was very diplomatic) were very much the same.
One
can still study the original writings of those two men and the early writings
about them. It was Thomas Paine who rallied the people and won the War of
Independence for us. Washington, Jefferson and Franklin all publicly agreed to
give Paine the credit on this. (Read: Citizen
Tom Paine by Howard Fast; Thomas
Paine, Author of the Declaration of Independence by Joseph Lewis. Or read
Thomas Paine's Common Sense and The Crisis; and his, The Rights of Man.) Thomas Paine was an
Atheist. He was also the father of our freedoms and made valuable contributions
to the Constitution of the United States of America. He also wanted to given
women the right to vote and he wanted to make slavery illegal. The Christians
would have none of it. It was against God, the Bible and their doctrines.
Thanks Tom! You were right!
Thomas
Paine and Thomas Jefferson were Clear Thinkers. Beyond doubt they were
non-Christian and nonbelievers. They were honest doubters. They were Deists.
They were also the fathers of our country. By studying their writings, we
realize we are dealing with men who were authorities within themselves. That
is, their own thinking was their authority. Their arguments never once appealed
to some authority other than to their own minds. Therefore, they should be
studied along with any document in which they had a hand. Any idea or plan
brought forth based upon facts and the original thinking of these two men
merits our careful consideration. So the Declaration of Independence and the
Constitution of the United States (toward which Paine also submitted his ideas
and suggestions) are valid foundations upon which to base ideas, arguments and
authority. In so doing, one must use his own logic,
honest thought and evaluation of the current situation in order to make honest
logical conclusions. This is called Clear Thinking (or Atheism).
The
Clear Thinker can test, debate, argue and prove or disprove the points at issue
on most subjects that interest him, or into which he is drawn. He must also
test his own ideas against modern times, science and technological advances. If
one finds the logic and honest thinking of these men are correct by his own
evaluation, he should make the findings and conclusions of these great men a
part of his own philosophy.
In
our day and age, one will not find many who quote themselves as authorities.
However these are the people who are thinking, who are producing ideas that
will make history and introduce new and better ways to deal with life and its
problems. It is the thoughts of those who do their own thinking that are most
valuable in this world today. Thinkers are the goats of society who are
protecting and leading the sheep. They are people like Jefferson, Einstein,
Edison, Tesla, Paine, Burbank, Yerks and Ingersoll
(non-Christians all).
Learning
to think and thinking is an awesome responsibility. Once a person begins to
perceive a situation for what it is, that person has a responsibility to inform
others, which is why Clear Thinkers have written on so many subjects. That is
one reason I am writing this book.
One
thing that the Clear Thinker must keep in mind is perspective. Some
controversial subjects and problems are of little import over the long run so
one should not get too worked up over subjects that are of only a passing
nature. But some subjects are of lasting importance. Freedom is one of these.
Justice needs to be rethought every fifty years or so. Superstitions of long
standing are another, especially if the superstition retards freedom and
physical or mental growth. Ecology is another problem of long-range importance.
(Let us hope it is not too late to work and think in this area.) Later space
travel and its implications may rise equally in importance as a lasting issue.
Gene and DNA engineering are problems that need a lot of honest thought as does
abortion and related problems. ELF or Extremely Low Frequency use like HAARP
needs attention as does other mind-altering equipment, chemicals and drugs.
It
is not enough to say "God says," or "the Pope says," or
"the president says.” Some hard honest thinking is needed in these areas.
We need more people who stand up and say, "I say, and here is why."
Learning
to think is only the beginning of thinking. Honest thinking raises man to new
levels of endeavor. Some day man may make some evolutionary jumps. It may
happen through gene engineering, chemical usages, natural
radiation from the sun, or nuclear war. It will happen. That is Nature's way.
What he will become does not depend on some supernatural being, but upon nature
and man himself. One thing is for sure. Some men will
always think. I only hope the sheep will one day become men so that all men
will think and teach their children to think.
Thinking
sets us apart from the animals. Anyone who asks you to believe is asking you to
be less than human, less than a man or woman. We must learn to reject and
repulse those who would steal our humanity from us. We must stand up and fight
the enemies of mankind. If there were a Good and Just God, I can assure you, he
would be on the side of the Honest Clear Thinkers and against those who would
ask us to believe and obey instead of honestly thinking.
Regardless of what else you do,
You Must Teach Your Children To Think!
The purpose of Clear Thinking is to think and teach others TO
THINK.
Thomas E. Blaylock
Copyright: 1989
Updated: 04/04/08
Updated: 08/01/10
Next: The Purpose of
Clear Thinking
