Updated: 03/15/05
 
 

CHAPTER 15

LEARNING TO THINK

            It may seem ironic to some of you that a subject like learning to think should be included in this book on the HONEST MAN'S PHILOSOPHY. I am ashamed to say it is very necessary. Thinking has been replaced in our society by belief and obedience. Only in the areas of science, law and math has thinking been allowed even a small amount of breathing room. Sad to say, science still has its sacred dogmas that often prevent thinking. Even though most of the scientific dogmas of the past Christian era have been proven wrong, these dogmas still cling and seek to dictate certain beliefs as though these dogmas were divine, especially in history, geology and archeology.

            There is strong evidence that the science of the very ancient past did some things that our modern science still relegates to the area of magic, myth and wishful thinking. Many scientific breakthroughs have come through people who ignored the fact that the scientific community solemnly declared, "It can't be done, it is against every scientific principle known to man." But these thinkers and tinkers went right on anyway and invented the airplane, the submarine, steam engine, electric lights, the movie projector, television, radio and on and on the list goes. It might also be interesting to note, many of the great scientists and inventors were Clear Thinking Atheists, such as Franklin, Edison, Burbank and Tesla.

            It has always been Honest Personal Clear Thinking that brought us our advancements in science, social relationships, government and personal welfare. In order to look at thinking, we will also have to look at the mental activities that are often called thinking, but which are not. There are actually four types of mind activities that are often called thinking. First, there is “Believing” often called Faith. Next, there is “Memory.” Third, there is “Inspiration.” Finally, there is “Logic.”

            In dealing with Belief or Believing, one must understand that the fundamental basis of faith or belief is the Absence of thinking. That is, Believing is accepting as a truth, or as a fact, something spoken or written by another person. Note here what is spoken or written may or may not be the truth. That is not the issue. The issue is, if someone accepts as true what someone else says or writes, and does so without comparing the pros and cons, that person is believing and they are not thinking. To believe one must accept as true what is written or spoken without question and without any factual investigation into the foundations of the matter. If one questions, compares contrary facts, and investigates Both sides of the matter, he is thinking and not believing.

            Believing is generally passed off as thinking because the believer holds some definite political, theological, philosophical or economical position. Trying to justify a position, or trying to prove some point of belief is not a true Aggressive thinking exercise. Clear Thinking is never defensive. It is always Aggressive. Clear Thinking is Not looking to prove or defend some point. Clear Thinking is always looking for the Truth of the matter.

CLEAR THINKING IS ALWAYS HUNTING
FOR THE TRUTH OF THE MATTER.

            People will read and reread some statement made in a political or religious book or paper. When it sounds as though the statement must be right, and when someone they accept as an authority writes it, they give up and believe it. From then on, they are a defender and evangelist of that position and that claim. The trouble is if a good propagandist is allowed to ignore contrary evidence to his position, he can be very persuasive. He can make his case easy to believe by twisting the truth just a bit, leaving out important facts and building upon a foundation that may have no truth in it at all. Thus, one can never really think if he reads only what One Side has to say about a subject. He can only believe or disbelieve. If he honestly doubts and investigates Both sides of a matter, he has begun to truly think.

            One does not believe something that he knows for sure. One should not believe something that he Can know for sure. The square root of nine is three. One does not believe such a statement. It is a logical fact determined by experiment and thinking. To Believe the square root of nine is three is to express one's mental immaturity or one's ignorance. Mathematics is logical, demonstrable facts. No one Believes an answer to a math problem. They either find out the answer or they don't. There is no room in math or science for trying to understand something, or to "get the answer" through believing. Now, apply that to everything.

            To believe is to ignore the science of the mind. There is only room for logical thought, or the absence of logical thought. (The same is true of all life.) Math is simply an exact language that can deal in some fashion with most questions of life, with the situations and conflicts and with the truth in any of its many forms. Clear Thinking is an exact method of separating fact from fiction. It is the ability to arrive at conclusions that are in harmony with those facts.

            Believing is the opposite of thinking. Believing is simply non-thinking. Believing is the escape of the lazy minded, the brain washed, the weak, the fearful and those who want something for nothing. Some people want knowledge without studying and thinking in order to obtain it.

            Next, there is Memorization, which often passes itself off as thinking. To remember what others have said or written does not constitute thinking. A tape recorder can remember word for word, but no one considers this thinking. Memory can be a valuable asset to thinking, but it is not thinking. There are retarded people who can remember word for word what others have said or done even though years may have elapsed. To remember is not the same activity as thinking.

            Third, there is a mental activity called Inspiration or Insight, but again such mental activity is not thinking. Insight is, however, a close cousin to thinking. Indeed, Insight or Inspiration coupled with pure logical thinking has often resulted in great leaps forward in the sciences, philosophy, economics and social sciences. According to psychologists and psychiatrists, (they appear to best explain the phenomenon) mental activity can occur on at least two levels. First, thinking can occur on the conscious level where logic is used (or not used) and next, on the subconscious level where random patterns or ideas occur. The problem with this subconscious pattern is, whatever comes forth seems like reality. That is, ideas from the subconscious, at first glance, always seem to be workable, usable and correct. The problem is such ideas are more often exactly the opposite. Most often, they are unworkable, unusable and untrue to the facts of the matter. From the subconscious have come some of the best and some of the worst ideas.

            Many theories and pronouncements have come forward from scientists, psychologists, psychiatrists and others about the subconscious mind and how it works. The only real agreement among them is that there is a subconscious mind and it does pop ideas and concepts into the conscious mind. Basically they also agree one can learn to put problems into the subconscious mind and hope for an insight to arrive one day. But what comes out ranges from the ridiculous to the startling leap forward.

            Most of the subconscious mind's offerings are totally unusable and they do not stand the test of logical thinking. The majority of these subconscious revelations come in the form of dreams. There are those who can allow the subconscious dreams to enter the conscious mind while they are awake, or in some type of trance. Most religions seem to be the product of someone's subconscious mind that is then offered to others in a greatly enhanced and decorated form. Most of these religious "Revelations" that gush up from people's subconscious minds cannot be logically understood or proven. They can only be believed or rejected by the hearer. (We will have more to say about revelations in Chapter 21.) There is little more one can say about the subconscious mind based upon facts, so let's move on to the last mind activity, Logical Thinking.

            Real thinking can best be defined like this:

THINKING IS THE LOGICAL, ORDERLY, MENTAL PROCESS OF SEARCHING FOR ALL THE KNOWN AND PROVABLE FACTS ABOUT A MATTER AND DRAWING CONCLUSIONS THAT REMAIN TRUE TO ALL THE KNOWN AND PROVABLE FACTS.

            You might wish to read that definition again and think about it for a few minutes. It sums up the core concept of Honest Clear Thinking.

            The dictionaries offer many and varied definitions for the words "Think" and "Thinking.” The majority of those definitions refer to the concept of "Believe,” or "Hope,” or to hold a “conscious thought.” But who knows what a conscious thought is? Who can say a horse or a dog doesn't have a conscious thought? Some of the work being done with apes and dolphins has proven they can communicate, ask for things, answer questions and separate complicated thoughts and questions. And they comprehend the "I and me" as themselves.

            Thinking as used in our context means:

            Thinking means the ability to logically determine what are the true facts, and then to process that information and those facts in order to arrive at conclusions that are in harmony with all the known facts.

            So, of the four major activities called thinking, only the last one is actually qualified to carry the definition of thinking. So as not to confuse the issue, Real Thinking is always referring to the concept of "Logical Thought or Logical Thinking." It is the use of logical, honest processing of the known and proven facts to arrive at conclusions that remain true to those facts.

            On one hand, there is Logical Thought, which is hard work. At times, it is disappointing, emotionally draining and upsetting Work. On the other hand there is believing, which is a lazy acceptance, requiring no thought, no analyzation, no effort, no calculations and worst of all, no rewards. The activity called Belief (or faith) negates Honest Clear Thinking and is demeaning and derogatory to both man and God.

            The main difference between man and the other animals is man's ability to reject habit, belief, faith, inspiration, insight and impulse in favor of conscious logical thought and action. When someone asks others to discard their manhood and mental abilities and to believe the unbelievable, they are belittling the intelligence of others, slandering their own God (whom they say gave them their brains) and exposing themselves to the world as charlatans and frauds.

            In order to learn to think logically, one must first unlearn some of the brain washing that he has been taught by home, school, church and government. To Believe is to "Not engage in logical thought.” To remember is not thinking. To have the subconscious flash things before the mind is not thinking. All of those things are easy to do. Logical thought is hard honest work. If it isn't work, it isn't thinking.

            To help you unlearn the brain washing that the institutions have taught you, think about Why you were taught to Believe and to Obey. First, take believing. You know who teaches you to believe but have you ever asked yourself, Why?

            Why would Anyone ask you to believe, or even wish you to believe? Why would anyone wish you to believe something when they could simply Prove their statement to you? They would then be giving you knowledge and facts. If they had Any proof or facts upon which to base their claims, you would never be asked to believe Anything that was taught by them.

            Of course, the truth is, No One would Ever ask you to believe what they were telling you “IF” they possessed logical conclusions based on and in harmony with the known and proven facts. Everyone would rather give you the facts. Then you would Not have to believe - you could Know.

            But what happens when their conclusions are Not in harmony with the known facts? Or yet, what happens when there are no facts at all upon which to base the conclusions of the teacher? It is at that time, and Only then, when the student is asked to Believe. Seldom is one asked to believe the believable.

            Believable means a large body of known facts exists that tends to make a certain and definite conclusion both rational and possible.

            Most often one is asked to believe the Unbelievable.

            Unbelievable means there are little or no existing facts that will substantiate the claims made by the teacher.

            Often, in order to cause people to accept the Unbelievable, more unbelievable statements are made. "If you don't believe me and vote for this man our country will fall to communism." "If you don't believe what I have just told you and come to the altar you will go to hell." "If you don't vote for me you will lose your welfare payments." "If you keep doing that you will go blind." The push to make you believe something is most often presented with an alternative threat of harm or danger. If you do not believe and do what is asked of you (obey) bad things will happen to you both in the present and in the future. Many other false and unsupported statements and claims are made and the hearer is asked to believe these compounded, unbelievable and unsupported claims.

            The best teachers in the world will always ask a person to investigate and think. They will never ask people to believe. In order to unlearn the falsehoods of the past, one must learn how to distinguish between fact and fiction, between truth and tall tales, between authenticity and authority. I am asking you to check up on what I say. Investigate what I am saying, Start thinking about these things. Exercise your Freedom, your intelligence and your humanity. Think!

            Any attempt to get an idea or concept accepted and believed by others must be suspect from the very start. There are two main methods used to get people to believe the unbelievable. One is through the use of emotional language and concepts. The other is through the appeal to some authority. The use of emotional language may include a "tear jerking" speech about our early political founding fathers. That is followed by statements of the great debt that we owe to these founding fathers. Since we owe this debt we must therefore, vote "yes" for somebody or something. In the pulpit, the preacher or priest will tell of the great suffering of the Son of God. He will tell made up stories of God’s great love trying to open up the emotions. Then he will ask people to believe what he says is the truth. The emotional appeal simply stated is the telling of an emotionally moving story then expecting people to believe the story and other things because the story emotionally moved them. Some women use this method. It is called crying.

            People are prepared to fight wars this way. They are prepared to give up their money or time to their government or religion this way. They are prepared to go into mob action this way. They are prepared to send money to feed hungry children (and preachers) this way. But worst of all they are prepared to give up their thinking ability, their manhood and their humanity this way. Watch out for the emotional appeals made on radio, television or in person. Someone is about to take something away from you. It may be your manhood, humanity and freedom, not to mention your money, time and future.

            The appeal to Authority is simply the attempt to get one to believe or accept something as true because of Who said it. The appeal to authority has Nothing to do with the facts of the case. It is simply a trick, a smoke screen that has been very successful for religion, government and individuals. The appeal to authority simply says something is true because of Who said it. You often even have to take their word for that. That is, that the person really did say it. "Fifty million Frenchmen Can be wrong."

            The president said, "I am not a crook." Another president said, "We are only sending advisors to Vietnam." The treasurer said, "Our money is as sound as it ever was. We are only changing our rate of exchange." The Bible says, "All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." The Constitution says, "All men are created equal." The Bible says, "God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh day." The KKK says, "Blacks are dumb." Mother says, "Santa Claus will not come until we go to sleep." The preacher says, "You will go to hell if you don't believe in Jesus and be saved." The Mayor says, "New York's bonds are as good as gold." Grandpa says, "I lived in the good old days." The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death."

            The appeal to authority is Always a smoke screen to cover up a shortage of facts with which to support a specific statement, claim or position. There are two types of people in this world when it comes to philosophy or religion. There are the doubters and there are the believers. There are the thinkers and the gullible. There are the intelligent and the ignorant. The doubters, the thinkers and the intelligent may make up as much as five to eight percent of the population of the United States. Some estimate as many as ten to twelve percent of the people may be thinkers in the area of philosophy and religion. The rest of course, will be the non-thinkers (the believers). If this sounds a little ridiculous, ask yourself this question. What percentage of the population are sheep giving of their time and money to religions, cults, parties and other organizations, which they do because they Believe the propaganda of these organizations? Don't forget: if you believe you must obey and pay.

            The unlearning process is mainly limited to seeing the harmfulness of believing. After one has seen the harmfulness of believing, he is free and ready to start thinking. This is called being “Born Again.” The first part of thinking is learning to recognize false statements, misleading statements and false conclusions. This is really not so difficult when one cultivates the honest doubter's attitude toward what is said or read. In other words, honestly doubt what is said or written. Then look at the statement, claim or position for flaws in its cornerstone, content, context, construction and conclusion.

            Movie stars, sports stars, famous people and beautiful people are used in ads for products and ideas. The assumption the seller wishes you to receive is, if you use certain tobacco products, certain alcoholic products, beauty aids or drive certain cars, or believe certain things, people will see you as a beautiful, successful and intelligent person. Anytime you hear, "Nine out of ten," or the word "survey,” or "test,” doubt it at once! And run; don't walk, to the nearest exit.

            Buy a good book on logic and study it. Once you learn to think you do not have to keep going over the same old ground. You begin to see patterns and will be able to spot falsehoods at a glance. You will soon realize many things are not worth even thinking about. Religion will soon fall into this category for most logical thinkers. Just think what you could do with all the time you have been spending trying to get others to believe unbelievable things. That doesn't include all the time you have been spending trying to please an uncertain and wishy-washy God by going to church and meetings. You could be using that time and money to do some needed good in this world.

            Then don't forget all of the money you will have that you can really use, not only for helping others but for helping yourself as well. Besides, thinking can be exciting and lots of fun.

            Doubting helps the honest thinker observe both sides of an issue. Often the thinker will soon realize both sides of an issue may really just be the same coin with the back fighting the front. For instance, is Jesus God or man? One side says God the other side says man. But the careful observer will soon discover, the question is not "Is Jesus, God or Man?” The question is did he ever actually exist at all? If so, did he do all of the things that the Bible says he did? Many scholars give strong evidence that Jesus is simply a composite of other ancient "saviors.” Then there are the political coins like the Democrats and the Republicans, same coin (goals) just different views on how to obtain those goals.

            Honest logical thinking is the core of the Clear Thinking philosophy. Honest thinking is also the core of personal well-being. It produces a well-rounded, integrated personality. Honest thinking frees the self from false internal guilt, from so many of the traps of life, from artificial fear and guilt and from dependence upon the opinion or authority of others. Honest thinking produces a self-respect and independence that others only vaguely understand. It produces an honest evaluation of one's abilities and talents. It produces an honest pride in oneself and in his work. Honest thinking produces a moral ethic that can be equaled by no other philosophy, and certainly cannot be equaled by any religion.

            Honest thinking produces a great respect for one's own self and for others. It strikes down and strips away all of the false basis upon which most people judge other people. Honest thinking is patient and waits until a person reveals their real selves.

            Thinking has two secrets. The first is "Honest Doubt.” Much has already been said about doubt. Honest Doubt is like a clean sheet of paper. You get to start at the roots of the matter. You get to draw a line down the center of a clean sheet of paper and put down on opposite sides what each side has to say about the matter. You get to evaluate the truthfulness of both claims. You get to form an honest, informed opinion. And if new facts come forward, you have no problem taking the new information into your opinion. You do not have to defend your conclusions. In light of new evidence, you can change your conclusions. You are looking for the truth.

            The other secret is a bit harder to learn. The second secret is Learning to Ask the Correct Questions About the Subject. Another way to get to the bottom of a subject is to find out if the words and ideas keep referring back to an authority. When there is an authority involved, one needs to examine it. If that authority is merely quoting or building upon another authority, one must go even farther back. If the ultimate authority is a document like the Bible, or the Declaration of Independence, one must dig in and find out about the document. What for instance, is the authority of the Bible? Why, it is God! You have arrived at an invisible, unverifiable, untruthful and indefensible source. That is where the search stops.

            Christians claim Atheists will not engage them in debate (on their terms). And that is the truth. If you play tic-tac-toe with a child, you know you can only draw or win. The game is a bore to you in a short time. The child gets frustrated and hostile. In a debate with a Christian, they wish to establish all the rules and wish you to accept their false histories and claims as true. So to debate a subject with a Christian, the Atheist must go back and give hours of true history while the Christian quotes from false religious history. Most Atheists agree it is not worth it. Therefore, a book like this is necessary reading by the Christians before a proper debate can be held.

            If you are a Clear Thinker, Atheist, Free Thinker, Humanist or Agnostic, you have already done your homework in this area. There is no need to pursue the subject any more unless you just have a curiosity about it. You have asked the correct question, gotten to the root of the matter and you may now honestly conclude that the statement, or document, holds no new position so far as facts are concerned.

            Instead of running into a "lost authority" like God, suppose you ran into the authority of the Declaration of Independence? Now you have something real to deal with. A study of the Declaration of Independence reveals it had an author and revisers. The main author was Thomas Paine. Since many people knew that Paine was also an Atheist, he had to submit his drafts in secret. That fact has been confirmed by several reputable sources. The main reviser was Thomas Jefferson. The philosophy of both Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson were very much the same.

            One can still study the original writings of those two men and the early writings about them. It was Thomas Paine who rallied the people and won the War of Independence for us. Washington, Jefferson and Franklin all publicly agreed on this. (Read: Citizen Tom Paine by Howard Fast; Thomas Paine, Author of the Declaration of Independence by Joseph Lewis. Or read Thomas Paine's Common Sense and The Crisis; and his, The Rights of Man.) Thomas Paine was an Atheist. He was also the father of our freedoms and also made valuable contributions to the Constitution of the United States of America. He also wanted to given women the right to vote, and he wanted to make slavery illegal. The Christians would have none of it. It was against God, the Bible and their doctrines. Thanks Tom! You were right!

            Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson were Clear Thinkers. Beyond doubt they were non-Christian and nonbelievers. They were honest doubters. They were Deists. They were also the fathers of our country. By studying their writings, we realize we are dealing with men who were authorities within themselves. That is their own thinking was their authority. Their arguments never once appealed to some authority other than to their own minds. Therefore, they should be studied along with any document in which they had a hand. Any idea or plan brought forth based upon facts and the original thinking of these two men merits our careful consideration. So the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States (toward which Paine also submitted his ideas and suggestions) are valid foundations upon which to base ideas, arguments and authority. In so doing, one must use his own logic, honest thought and evaluation of the current situation in order to make honest logical conclusions. This is called Clear Thinking.

            The Clear Thinker can test, debate, argue and prove or disprove the points at issue on most subjects that interest him, or into which he is drawn. He must also test his own ideas against modern times, science and technological advances. If one finds the logic and honest thinking of these men are correct by his own evaluation, he should make the findings and conclusions of these great men a part of his own philosophy.

            In our day and age, one will not find many who quote themselves as authorities. However these are the people who are thinking, who are producing ideas that will make history and introduce new and better ways to deal with life and its problems. It is the thoughts of those who do their own thinking that are most valuable in this world today. Thinkers are the goats of society who are protecting and leading the sheep. They are the Jeffersons, the Einsteins, the Edisons, the Paines, the Burbanks, the Yerks and the Ingersolls (non-Christians all).

            Learning to think and thinking is an awesome responsibility. Once a person begins to perceive a situation for what it is, that person has a responsibility to inform others, which is why Clear Thinkers have written on so many subjects. That is one reason I am writing this book.

            One thing that the Clear Thinker must keep in mind is perspective. Some controversial subjects and problems are of little import over the long run so one should not get too worked up over subjects that are of only a passing nature. But some subjects are of lasting importance. Freedom is one of these. Justice needs to be rethought every fifty years or so. Superstitions of long standing are another, especially if the superstition retards freedom and physical or mental growth. Ecology is another problem of long-range importance. (Let us hope it is not too late to work and think in this area.) Later space travel may rise equally in importance as a lasting issue. Gene and DNA engineering are problems that need a lot of honest thought as does abortion and related problems. Extremely Low Frequency use (HAARP) needs attention as does other mind-altering equipment, chemicals and drugs.

            It is not enough to say "God says," or "the Pope says," or "the president says.” Some hard honest thinking is needed in these areas. We need more people who stand up and say, "I say, and here is why."

            Learning to think is only the beginning of thinking. Honest thinking raises man to new levels of endeavor. Some day man may make some evolutionary jumps. It may happen through gene engineering, natural radiation from the sun, or nuclear war. It will happen. That is Nature's way. What he will become does not depend on some supernatural being, but upon nature and man himself. One thing is for sure. Some men will always think. I only hope the sheep will one day become men so that all men will think and teach their children to think.

            Thinking sets us apart from the animals. Anyone who asks you to believe is asking you to be less than human, less than a man or woman. We must learn to reject and repulse those who would steal our humanity from us. We must stand up and fight the enemies of mankind. If there were a Good and Just God, I can assure you, he would be on the side of the Honest Clear Thinkers and against those who would ask us to believe and obey instead of honestly thinking. Regardless of what else you do, You Must Teach Your Children To Think!

The purpose of Clear Thinking is to think and teach others

TO THINK.

Next: The Purpose of Clear Thinking

Index