The more you think, the more you think differently
This is self-evident. Within any topic of your long toil, you will most certainly note changes in your understanding that correlate with the time and rigor spent upon said topic. Think of an activity you have long worked to master. Think back to yourself on day one. It’s a little bit laughable, isn’t it? Look how far you have come.
Take, for example, the most rigorous disciplines of modern science & medicine. These fields are filled with brilliant people, yet the more they think, the more they discover. The more they think, they see things more clearly. This is why the present generation looks back to see that the previous generation indeed made great, lasting, and impactful progress, yet they were also about half wrong. Even a conglomerate of our times most genius minds can not escape the universal truth that the more you think, the more you think differently. Yes, these brilliant people created a new foundation within their fields, but those coming next will use that foundation as a stepping stone towards more. And they will lay a new foundation, pouring over the imperfections of what was to create anew, a new standard.
The inverse is also true. People who think little often do so under the false impression that the ideas that they have been told to think are ideas that they have arrived at uniquely. It is surpassingly rare for a person who thinks little to be self-aware of this, their internal pandemic. Uniqueness of thought stems from thoughtful people. Most who think little are under the illusion of self-autonomy but exist unwittingly as a pass-through for the hive mind of culture’s current mood swing.
There is enough information in the world to spend lifetimes contemplating. No one has the time to pour over it all. We must all be careful about our human habit of snap judgments towards ideas and topics that we have not given notable thought or time to. I see this happen all the time. The worst is when people, whose thoughts on a matter remain the dictates of others, exclaim those pirated and parotid positions with persistence and passion.
The real lesson here is to find the difference between where you believe what you have been told, compared to where with intentionality your thoughts have rigorously developed their own opinion. This should be a college course. It is not easy. It is a journey. Often it is not something we give any attention to, there is often little order within our minds. It is likely that the thoughts and opinions we have toiled and sacrificed for lay strewn about our minds with the same grandeur of those positions spoon-fed by the mainstream. Many have developed a pattern of thinking where they are not only unable to articulate the opposing position, they are unaware of its existence. This state of mind is the corrosion that topples empires.
Human flourishing can be traced back to the mind. Our human experience runs on intelligence and our use of the mind. These two are far and above the greatest cause of not only our individual but our collective thriving or decay.
Take care of your mind
Think about how you think.
Develop your mind.
Treat your thoughts with the care that your most precious resource deserves.
Our process of mindfulness, habits of thinking, they matter. Think upon them.
A person who thinks little is the fool of every fad, trend, and consensus.
A thinking person is hard to fool. Moreso, they are the lightning rod of change, they are the root and stem of progress, they are the vanguard of sensibility.
IT IS UP TO US
Hold Tension, Be Vast.Remember, restoration alone brings victory.