WE SET OUR LIMITS: TIME TO RESET USING OUR CRITICAL THINKING

What is “critical thinking”? Oxford Dictionary tells us: “It is the objective analysis of an issue in order to form a judgement.” I add to that, “the INDEPENDENT” objective analysis.

Oxford then tells us an “issue” is an important topic or problem for discussion or debate.

I add to this the term “dialectic”, which means according to Oxford, “the art of investigating or discussing the truth of opinions”.

I suggest the dialectic to be fundamental to critical thinking.

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We tend to gather images of who we are and our capabilities from the way we interpret the response of others to us. This begins immediately with the awakening of consciousness and continues until we discover our independent thought.

Then, do we find the consciousness to think independently, to allow ourselves to think critically? A most important duty of education is to teach critical thinking.

What is “critical thinking”? How is it taught? Why do “conservative minds”, such as the Texas Republican Party (a misnomer) pressure school boards to stop teaching students how to think critically?

About three or four years ago Republicans partitioned the Texas Board of Education to immediately stop the teaching of critical thinking in Texas schools.

The self-described “conservative” thinkers tell us why they take this position. They say “critical thinking” teaches students to think for themselves and therefore to be less submissive to voices of authority, such as parents, teachers, business leaders, governments, and others who presume the right to tell us all what and how we are to think, the opinions we are to have, and how we are to live our lives.

This is clearly an effort to control the minds of young people, and therefore to keep them submissive to conservative governments.

This effort is a fundamental offense to freedom to think, to develop our own opinions, and to, under our First Amendment rights, speak our opinions.

Authoritarians seek to set aside, or “terminate” the Constitution and establish a dictatorship which would dictate not only our actions, but our thinking, our minds, and with the aid of Evangelical “Christian” religious groups, to control our very souls.

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I place “conservative” in quotes because this is not true conservative thinking. It is a dangerous authoritarian mindset to establish dictatorship throughout our land..

“Conservative” according to Oxford is “aversion to change or innovation and holding traditional values”. The approach by our neo-conservatives is the opposite of this definition. They seek to change everything about our nation, to change it from a Constitutional Democratic Republic to a dictatorship.

I am discomforted to have to write this. It seems 80 percent of citizens claiming to be “Republican”, and about 40 percent of voting citizens follow the leaders of neo-conservative thought which is represented by what is also called “the far right” in our political scene.

We all know who these people are. They are Donald Trump and his MAGA gang, people like the current Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and legislators like Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Green.

True Conservatives like Liz Chaney and a handful of former Republican leaders oppose this destruction of the former Republican Party.

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I did not begin this writing to shout personal political positions, but to encourage critical thinking and reset our cognitive limits, and therefore be more capable of discovering our true levels of human consciousness and positive productivity.

As I have written before, as children of the Universe, of the Source of all, made of the stuff of that Source, we have the potential to become near Godlike. We seem to be going in the opposite direction.

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It is a bit disturbing to me that this article has turned into just one more political tirade. I began this writing in hopes of simply encouraging us to open our minds to the levels of positive productivity we are capable of achieving.

Since the time approaches 4:00 AM, I must let this bleary mind rest, reread, exit and clean this up following rest.

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As I lay back and close my eyes, I am too discomforted by the apparent divisiveness this writing seems to inspire. My goal is the opposite. I am NOT condemning all MAGA minds. There are millions of good, intelligent, God loving people who seem to have suffered pollution of the political compartment of their minds.

Yes, we have many mental compartments, and politics is only one. Our unrelenting goal must be to stop the emotional energies that promote division, and put our minds to work in critically analyzing just what is driving us apart.

Seeming to criticize, even condemn people who have different political opinions than I do is great error and falls into the very trap I oppose, which is derisive opposition. If this divisive mindset is not put aside, our nation, and we ourselves, are in grave danger.

We MUST learn to engage authentic dialectics and explore together through unemotional critical thinking and reset our cognitive limits so we may learn to be friends and not enemies. Those of MAGA orientation and its opposite must seek reconciliation avoiding anger hatred and emotional violence.

We can, we MUST do this. A house, a nation divided cannot stand. It is difficult to avoid throwing fuel on the fire rather than the blessed water of peace.

Please understand, I seek not to condemn, the MAGAs of my nation, my home. I seek healing for us all. Often times, and this is one, we find critical thinking, reason, logic, and focus on facts is the surest way to heal emotionally charged division.

Now, I close my eyes to review this with a rested mind later.

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I chose to leave it as it is. Bless you as we enter this new and climactic year of 2024. We will be challenged. Let us ride this wave together.