Think slowly
Knowledge they say is a process, not an answer. When faced with a problem or question, we are often tempted to get to the answer as fast as possible and forget our thought process that leads us to the answer.
But answers are use-and-throw and processes are repeatable. What would you rather chose? After all, Google has answers to most questions. What makes you and me better then?
I’ve started to write down, literally write down the thought process that lets me arrive at answers. It’s slow and tedious but it seems to be worth it.
Treat nothing as obvious
Our everyday thinking is based on somebody else’s thinking to a really surprising degree. When sufficient number of people have thought through something, it becomes what we call obvious. But that doesn’t enrich.
Let’s take an example: If I ask someone to draw a imaginary animal, they’d give it 2 eyes in all likeliness. But why? They’d probably say because “Animals usually have 2 eyes. Isn’t it obvious.”
But why only 2? Why not 3? Or 1? If you spend a minute thinking about it, you’ll realize that 2 eyes are adequate to cover 360 degrees, which is what most animals need. 1 won’t do (unless it’s separate from body). More than 2 is useful but not necessary. Btw this is one of the many explanations.
So the problem with treating something as obvious is that we miss understanding a lot of basic stuff. Children treat almost nothing as obvious. They ask all random questions that we adults think are obvious and we give them what we’ve been passed on by somebody else’s thinking.
Don’t label things as good or bad
What I say there may irk some readers and really upset others. When we think through something, we often arrive at points where our minds attach the labels of good and bad. The problem with this is that when this happens, we don’t explore the full flowcharts that are possible.
This is applicable to both past and future.
How would have history been if polygamy didn’t get phased out? Will caning school kids improve their grades? If we exploited every last forest, how would the future play out? Could there be rational justifications to reject inter-caste marriages?
Sure, we can reject certain branches of the flowchart after we’ve drawn them. But drawing them gives us insight. After all, we have arrived at the present day through many things that were once considered good but are considered bad now, and vice-versa.
Thinking deeply is surely a recipe for exhaustion. But so is working-out. This might have the same effect on the mind as working-out has on the body.