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Tuesday September 1, 2009
. . . .The true key to independent thought, to be willing to not stand with the crowd on any issue, but rather, be willing to go against the grain and the crowd when it's called for, is to believe in yourself and not worry about being popular or being accepted.
. . . . .Independent thought, the ability to go your own way can be nourished, can be nurtured, at least I've found in some really simple exercises -
- Be willing to be a skeptic about damn near everything. Don't believe anything at face value, nothing. Do be willing to investigate, find fact, get data and input and start putting together the logic, the equations and the proofs for yourself.
- Be willing to be wrong. Sometimes, it's important to put all of it together and find out that your original assumptions were not only not right, but flat out wrong and completely opposite of what you started out thinking.
- Take both viewpoints, the 40,000 foot view and the 4 foot view, then do some compare and contrast.
- Take both sides of the issue, all sides of it, and each time try to prove yourself wrong, be the devil's advocate always, and try to find out just how you may be thinking backwards about something.
- Most of all, don't be afraid to talk about religion or politics with your friends. I know it's always been a taboo topic, bullshit, I say!! Bullshit. Remember that even armed with all the facts and data that your's is just one opinion among many, and everyone else is entitled to theirs as well.
What makes this the grandest experiment on the face of planet still is just that, the ability to have opposing, differing viewpoints, and allowing one another the right, and the space to present it, knowing full well that neither one of you is fully right, nor wholly wrong, that the actuality of things is somewhere in between there.
. . . .I'm on the move today, in between some remote locations, so that's about as good as the update gets, have a good one, see you on the flip side, tomorrow.
The Angel
. . . . .Independent thought, the ability to go your own way can be nourished, can be nurtured, at least I've found in some really simple exercises -
- Be willing to be a skeptic about damn near everything. Don't believe anything at face value, nothing. Do be willing to investigate, find fact, get data and input and start putting together the logic, the equations and the proofs for yourself.
- Be willing to be wrong. Sometimes, it's important to put all of it together and find out that your original assumptions were not only not right, but flat out wrong and completely opposite of what you started out thinking.
- Take both viewpoints, the 40,000 foot view and the 4 foot view, then do some compare and contrast.
- Take both sides of the issue, all sides of it, and each time try to prove yourself wrong, be the devil's advocate always, and try to find out just how you may be thinking backwards about something.
- Most of all, don't be afraid to talk about religion or politics with your friends. I know it's always been a taboo topic, bullshit, I say!! Bullshit. Remember that even armed with all the facts and data that your's is just one opinion among many, and everyone else is entitled to theirs as well.
What makes this the grandest experiment on the face of planet still is just that, the ability to have opposing, differing viewpoints, and allowing one another the right, and the space to present it, knowing full well that neither one of you is fully right, nor wholly wrong, that the actuality of things is somewhere in between there.
. . . .I'm on the move today, in between some remote locations, so that's about as good as the update gets, have a good one, see you on the flip side, tomorrow.
The Angel
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