Flawed in our thinking?

You may be getting the impression that I'm suggesting we humans are basically flawed in our thinking. This is not the case at all. I have little to present against how we think, but I'm fairly certain that we are not as aware of our own (and others') thinking as we should be. A little awareness can go a long way.

And that, I believe, is our most fundamental, general problem: we're simply unaware of too much, above all who we ourselves are, what we believe and, most importantly, why we believe whatever that is. There are a lot of things that seem like a good idea at the time. How many of us have awakened one morning full of regret for doing "what seemed like a good idea at the time"? How many of us have looked back at our past and realized when it was that we took that less than optimal turn in life and realize that, well, "it seemed like a good idea at the time"? One of our advantages (evolutionary and otherwise) as human beings is that we can imagine. We can play out different scenarioes in our heads, we can envision consequences of actions and decisions. We can also reflect on our own wishes and desires, and we can learn about others' as well and reflect on how they work with, or against, our own. But, we don't do that very often. Instead, we tend to be impulsive, reactive, knee-jerking actors in a drama whose plot is completely unknown to us. Too often our decisions are being made in our spinal columns, not in our brains.

This is unfortunate, not only for the actor but also for whomever else is affected by those actions. Part of this comes from the fact that we are constantly bombarded with the means and motivation to seek instant gratification. We think we've got to have this or that now, when in fact, not only don't we need it now, we probably don't need it at all. Too often we believe that things ... possessions ... are what we need (or at least want), but shortly thereafter the thrill of the purchase is gone, it all becomes mundane again, and we're no better off than we were before. I believe a primary reason for this, for the perpetual dissatisfaction that so many of us endure, is simply because we're not so much flawed in our thinking, but rather that we simply don't think enough.

Thinking is not just about solving problems, it is also about reflection, as I have said, but it is also, I believe most importantly, about awareness ... of the world around us, ourselves, and, particularly, our own thinking. We need to stop and think about why we think the things we do. We need to explore our thoughts to their roots to see what they are based upon. We need to be honest with ourselves and identify our own prejudices (and, yes, we all have lots more of them than we might like to admit). We also need to ask ourselves why others do think like we do. It's not just because they're not as smart as we are. Maybe, just maybe, we're not as smart as we think we are.

All of this gets complicated, though, when we find ways to isolate us from those who perhaps think differently than we do. There is a great danger these days of isolating oneself to such a degree that the otherness of others can simply be eliminated. When that happens, though, we opt out of thinking altogether and we descend to the realm of pure belief. Oh, there is nothing wrong with belief per se, but pure belief is unaware belief. And being unaware is as good as being unconscious.