Field Notes of the Process of Thinking

Thinking is not thoughts moving through your mind in some sort

of random disorder. Thinking requires direction, intention,

and a process of development.  We think in order to solve problems

and to acquire knowledge. Thinking is a dialogue we have with ourselves.

Sometimes, we think with our minds, and sometimes we think with our hearts. 

Thinking from the heart can be very vast, intuitive, and insightful.  Thinking is

something that we choose to do.  It requires intention and effort.  In some ways, it is

like a silent conversation that we hold with ourselves.  We think because we want to understand. 

We want to really learn to SEE when we look at something. 

We want to learn to really LISTEN when we hear something. 

All too often we look, but we do not really see; Or we hear, but we are not really listening. 

Both require specific intention and attention.

Ideas are tools.  They help us to think.  It is important to be open minded when we are

presented with new ideas.  If we disagree without having done our own independent thought

and investigation, for the most part thinking stops.  We have, in effect, shut

down our thinking process.  Use new ideas to explore with, to develop a new territory

in your mind where you have never been before.  Be willing to suspend judgments. 

All too often we think that what is important is that we know if we agree or disagree,

or if we like or dislike something.  That is simply preference.  That is not thinking. 

We are trying to grow a mind, to mature our thinking.

We ask: “If I do not agree, why do I hold that opinion?”  Do I hold that view because it

is what I have been told by another, or is it because I have thought through the matter

on my own ?? Perhaps it is because your father, or your mother, or your older brother,

or your minister, or your 5^th grade teacher told you so.  You just accepted their view

as the way it is because it was their “truth.”  That means that the authority for your

view is outside of yourself.  You have not done your own thinking, someone has done it

for you.  You have borrowed their opinions.  Why have you done so ??  Have you done so

because it is easy ?  Recognize that you have not gone through the process of developing your

own opinion and understanding.   Someone else has done your thinking for you. 

Your authority for these views is outside of yourself. You have borrowed them from another.

Perhaps you do not realize how much your thinking has been shaped and formed

by a number of different sources or persons.  Movies, magazine, the marketplace,

and good old TV getting you to buy and consume what they are selling. 

Because they know you want to be cool with just the right look, or style, or logo. 

They are training you to become “one of theirs.”

In my way of thinking, the only way out of this dilemma is to learn to develop your own

mind and thinking.  It takes work, it takes time and intention.  It is not easy.  If you want

to develop your own mind and intention, it begins with a firm decision to do so.

It asks you to practice the art of seeing instead of just looking.  It asks you to practice

the art of listening instead of just hearing.  It asks you to ask why.  Ask yourself why

you think and feel as you do.  Examine your opinions.  You must begin to learn the

art of self examination.  You ask yourself: “Why did I get angry?”  or “Why was I

frustrated, sad, or jealous?” in examining your feelings.  You do not blame another.

You accept responsibility.  You recognize that your response or reaction is what you

did, and only you has control over that.  It asks us to examine our opinions and

assumptions about what and how we think.  The important thing is to start, to begin.

It takes time, but the rewards are rich.

Look upon what is discussed in class or the readings or the weekly material as statements

and as questions to explore and reflect upon, and not as answers.  Hear everything that is said

as a question rather than as an answer.  You are not being asked to agree, you are being

asked to think.  Your are being asked to reflect.  Look upon the ideas that are

presented as tools to use to develop and refine your mind.  A closed mind stops and shuts off. 

It builds walls to protect and defend itself against all that does not agree with it. 

This is a mind that wants to know because it is afraid.  A well educated mind

is reluctant to say, I know.  It entertains many possibilities.  It is open.  It always leaves

“the door open to the East.”  East is the direction of the sunrise and new illumination,

new possibility and potential of the creative aspect.  An open mind does not stop. 

It does not “camp out at the rest stops” along the highway.

Remember to trust yourself.  Trust your feelings and intuitions.  Trust your inspirations. 

They want you to listen to them.  They want to guide you forward.  But it takes practice. 

It takes trust. It takes time to develop and mature your thinking.  As we mature our thinking,

We may side-by-side mature our being.  Our being is the essence of our core

self, and a matured being in a person is a rare and wonderful sight to witness.

Thinking asks you to practice waiting before you jump to the conclusion that the other

person is wrong because your know you are right, and if you disagree, then they

must be wrong. Right ?? And you know you are right because your mother, or your

brother, or your minister, or CNN News, or People Magazine says so. Right ??

Enjoy the journey.  All of us are travelers to a most distant shore. Keep your mind clear and your heart open.

Remember the wisdom of the saying: “I drew a circle and it shut you out.

Then I drew a larger circle and it brought you in.”  Include rather than exclude.