Critical Thinking - Taking Charge of Your Life

Posted on: Sat, 03/27/2021 - 09:41 By: aaliyah

By Anneli Driessen Ph.D., Ph.D., MCC – February 10, 2021

Whatever you are doing right now is determined by the way you are thinking. Whatever you feel—all your emotions—are determined by your thinking. Whatever you want—all your desires—are determined by your thinking. If your thinking is unrealistic, it will lead you to many disappointments. If your thinking is overly pessimistic, it will deny you recognition of the many things you should properly enjoy.

Many people are victims of their own thinking; they are hurt rather than helped by it. When people act like their own worst enemy, their thinking is a continual source of problems. It prevents them from recognizing opportunities. Instead, they poison their relationships and leading them down blind alleys.

Here are some of the qualities the best thinkers share:

 

  • The best thinkers think about their thinking. They do not take thinking for granted. They do not trust fate to improve their thinking. They notice their thinking. They reflect on their thinking. They act upon their thinking.

 

  • The best thinkers keep their minds clear. They do not cloud their thinking ability with mind-altering substances.

 

  • The best thinkers are highly purposeful. They do not simply act. They know why they act. They know what they are about. They have clear goals and clear priorities. They continually check their activities for alignment with their goals.

 

  • The best thinkers have intellectual tools that they use to raise the quality of their thinking. They know how to express their thinking clearly. They know how to check it for accuracy and precision. They know how to keep focused on a question and make sure that it is relevant to their goals and purposes. They know how to think beneath the surface and how to expand their thinking to include insights from multiple perspectives. They know how to think logically and significantly.

 

  • The best thinkers distinguish their thoughts from their feelings and desires. They know that wanting something to so do not make it so. They know that one can be unjustifiably angry, afraid, or insecure. They do not let unexamined emotions determine their decisions. They have “discovered” their minds, and they examine the way their minds operate as a result. They take deliberate charge of those operations.

 

  • The best thinkers routinely analyze and evaluate thinking—determining its strengths and weaknesses. They do not trust the mind to analyze and assess itself automatically. They realize that the automatic ways in which the mind analyses and evaluates itself are inherently flawed. They recognize that the art of evaluating and assessing thinking is an art one must consciously learn. They realize that it takes knowledge and practice to analyze and evaluate one’s thinking properly. 

 

  • Finally, all of the best thinkers are not only passionate about TRUTH, but “driven” to find it, whether it is by their intellect, their Soul, or both, consciously or unconsciously.

 

As a whole, the Metaphysical Academy introduces you to the tools and understanding of the mind that will help you reason well through the problems and issues you face, whether in your personal or in your professional life. If you take these ideas seriously and practice using them, you can take command of the thinking that will ultimately command your life quality.
 

During the participation of the Academy’s curriculum, you have the opportunity to recognize your barriers to critical thinking and your ability to intervene in your thinking to improve it.

 

You will be optimally able to understand the problem of the media bias and the bias of the scientific world and recognize propaganda as a barrier to critical thought and optimal development of human societies.

 

You will understand ethical reasoning and be encouraged to act accordingly; you will recognize the differences between ethics and other modes of thought, including religion, social ideologies, politics, and the law. You will be encouraged and supported to be informed and to act responsibly.