Critical Thinking: a goal

I'm getting a jump on a New Year tradition. I read this information today and I plan to use it as a guide:

 "Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically. They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when left unchecked. They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and sociocentric tendencies. They use the intellectual tools that critical thinking offers – concepts and principles that enable them to analyze, assess, and improve thinking. They work diligently to develop the intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual humility, intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and confidence in reason. They realize that no matter how skilled they are as thinkers, they can always improve their reasoning abilities and they will at times fall prey to mistakes in reasoning, human irrationality, prejudices, biases, distortions, uncritically accepted social rules and taboos, self-interest, and vested interest. They strive to improve the world in whatever ways they can and contribute to a more rational, civilized society. At the same time, they recognize the complexities often inherent in doing so. They avoid thinking simplistically about complicated issues and strive to appropriately consider the rights and needs of relevant others. They recognize the complexities in developing as thinkers, and commit themselves to life-long practice toward self-improvement. They embody the Socratic principle: The unexamined life is not worth living , because they realize that many unexamined lives together result in an uncritical, unjust, dangerous world." ~ Linda Elder, September, 2007

 I found this paragraph on a page here: http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/defining-critical-thinking/766

On dressing up

I just saw a bunch of stats on CBS Sunday Morning about Thanksgiving. One of them said "7% of us will dress up". I have a feeling this used to be a larger number.

My first reaction to this was relief. (I hate to dress up). My second reaction was a bit of sadness because I recall some Rockwellian photos of families sitting around a table in their 'Sunday best' while Father began carving the turkey. I began to wonder why - as is my wont.

I wonder if our propensity in times past toward dressing up for special occasions was a reaction to our former agrarian and industrial laborer circumstances? If we got dirty and worked hard during the week, then when we had holidays we wanted them to be a stark contrast to those circumstances.

Now, such a large proportion of us earn our living at desks. And, even those of us who work in physical jobs would probably say they prefer the modern ways of their job over the same way that job would have been done 20, 50 or 100 years ago. And, most of us who work physically have a prescribed mode of dress or a uniform for our job just as surely as the desk worker has a dress code of some sort.

Therefore, we enjoy dressing however the heck we want to dress on holidays - again in stark contrast to our workaday lives.

Just wondering...as is my wont.

A link to the Wiki page where I found the free-use image

Thinking outside the box sounds downright sedentary

I just saw a post on Facebook where someone said they were most proud of their ability to "think outside the box." I'm paraphrasing, but that is the gist of the post. Well, that got me thinking about something that has been percolating for years. I hate that adage!

In my mind, thinking either inside or outside a box sounds entirely too static in today's world. Most organizations and people are not sitting in a box. They are barreling down the interstate (or autobahn) of life and commerce at dizzying speeds. Therefore, stopping to think either inside or outside a box is simply not going to happen, much less do any good.

I therefore want to propose a new adage:

Take a detour or scenic byway
 every now and again.

to symbolize this nugget of wisdom. True innovation doesn't often happen in a "business as usual" atmosphere. Perhaps a better way to put it would be to

Think off-road.

Law of Averages? Average of Laws?

True to form*, I haven't blogged in almost 2 months. It occurred to me today because I'm in the 3rd day of my first Lenten fast*. This would come as a surprise to anyone who knows me, but since nobody ever reads here, eh, I'm not worried.

See, I'm not Catholic. But, last year, a Catholic friend was fasting for Lent and explained her fast to me. It wasn't a draconian fast, but it was challenging. I don't recall the details. She explained to me why it was meaningful to her. And, lo and behold*, it made sense! You can read more about some of the things she has shared with me at some of these sites:

• A protestant explains why observe Lent
• All about Lent, Q&A style

My Lenten fast is relatively simple. It is also not draconian, but it challenges my habits in some extreme ways. First, it requires me to be mindful in the present. Second, unlike secular fasts, it replaces the negative habit you're giving up with a positive one. In the case of a traditional Catholic Lent, one is to turn to God in sorrow for one's sin when one is foregoing the subject of the fast. For the Catholic (and indeed for Christians in general), it is a healthy thing to recognize sin for what it is and confess and accept God's forgiveness based on His Son's gift of salvation. It's all about the grace (sung to the tune of "It's all about that bass.")

So, why write about this here - when I usually stay away from personal things like politics and religion? First, it occurred to me that the discipline of giving up a habit by replacing it with a good habit is pretty universally good advice. Second, it gave me something to write about. And, that brings me to the conclusion and the title for this post:

I'm a math addict. I love numbers. When I logged on to blogger.com today, I noticed that I last posted almost 2 months ago. That made me wonder what my average lapse between posts is. And, so, of course I had to find out. It turns out I've been posting in this blog for about 5 years and I have 31 posts. That means, on average, I post about 6 times per year (or, every couple of months). So, by the law of averages*, it was time!

More about the "True to form" bit:
See the last paragraph above about the math and numbers. That explains my "form" pretty well. I'm not a prolific blogger. But I like to think that most of my stuff is better than average (hehe, get it? better than average?) - Back to the top -


More about my "Lenten fast":
My Lenten fast is very straightforward. I'm eating a vegan (and largely raw) diet on Mon/Wed/Fri and "sensible" meals and snacks the rest of the time. In addition, I've decided to do this mostly in private - like Jesus advised in a sermon - to do one's "good deeds" in private and without fanfare. And, finally, I've chosen to observe the sundown-to-sundown definition of day (so, Monday's vegan fast starts at sundown on Sunday and ends at sundown on Monday). My reasoning for this last rule is admittedly selfish. I attend a "trivia night" on Wednesdays where there is much less healthy fare. I enjoy it and quite honestly didn't want to give it up. I might have done so if I had other social opportunities, but since I've just moved to town, I don't. My conscience is clean in this particular concession. - Back to the top -

More about the "lo and behold" bit: It's just something my mom used to say. Here is the best definition I found: from the Cambridge Dictionary site. - Back to the top -


It's all about that bass: - Back to the top -

A new thought for a new year

I don't normally do New Year Resolutions. But I broke with tradition this year. I'm not very sure there is a good reason. I'm not going to spend a lot of time trying to figure it out. Instead, I'm going to focus on how to successfully keep them! Here's the Facebook post on the subject:

I love to write. It's a shame. It's laziness. It's inexcusable why I haven't written here (or indeed anywhere) in almost 2 years. I'm not going to focus on that, either.