Chapter 2/2


Mental Habits

It is not easy to stop living by an unthinking, undeliberated, unconsidered acceptance of whatever is our community’s conventional wisdom, or by decisions we have made merely because, at the moment, they felt right. On the other hand, for others--antisocial mavericks--it is hard to break loose from their rebellious, reactive pattern of always thinking whatever is contrary to the established order. Thinking is not hard, but the will and determination to think, and to persist in it, this is hard, until it becomes a habitual, characteristic trait. Then, it is easy.

What I am saying is that it is easy to coast along, living by habit and the socially acceptable, without ever actively engaging the mind, just leaving it in neutral most of the time. The simple argument of this book is that once we understand the DIALECTIC, a smidgen of logic (Part Two of this book), and identify our own basic beliefs and ultimate goals (part three), thinking becomes easy. But it becomes easy only as we engage the gears of the mind and put it to work.


Thinking Invites Trouble

Be aware, however, that the DIALECTIC will bring new troubles into your life as you begin to recognize problems that DIALECTICal thinking has made you aware of but that you had rather not deal with. Moreover, you will find that you have to be careful in school, with your spouse, on the job, or wherever you are because others will not always appreciate the changes that clear thinking often calls for. So, on one hand, we want to do our own thinking and act on the basis of that thinking, but we need to be careful how we negotiate our relations with other people.

Therefore, before you read another sentence, be warned: thinking is dangerous; this is a dangerous book. When, in 1937, Lyndon Johnson first went to the United States House of Representatives, his fellow Texan, Sam Rayburn, House Majority Leader, counseled him: “Lyndon, the way to get along is to go along.” The truth is that any time we begin thinking, we are apt to make enemies, and in this, our one chance at life between the cradle and the casket, we need to make as few enemies as possible. One of the most dependable ways to avoid making enemies is to go along with whatever the majority thinks.

But, at the heart of good thinking is the realization that things we have been taught are not true. At least some of them, some of the time. Maybe even most of what we've been lead to believe. Once we accept the idea that authorities, even experts and professionals, could be wrong, we begin trying to figure why such things are allowed and accepted. If we come to think that we have figured out something that is nearer the truth, we may then decide to challenge some socially accepted truths, the conventional wisdom.

That is another danger that accompanies thinking: if we think on anything long enough, sooner or later we are likely to tell others what we have been thinking, or, in some other way, to put our thoughts into action. Any time we put our thinking on public display we have taken a step that is a quick and easy way to lose friends and alienate society. Societies cannot operate without consensus. Those who do not go along are commonly ignored or ostracized. They find they have become social misfits.

On the other hand, what are we to do if our mind or conscience will not let us “go along?” What are we to do if our mind will not walk away and find other things to think about? What if we insist on what we see as the truth? What if our mind will give us no rest until we do our own thinking?

What happens is, we decide that although thinking is dangerous, not thinking just might be more dangerous. Maybe socially accepted wisdom is a lie, even one that is widely acknowledged, but a lie that seems to be working well. However, we find that this is one sleeping dog that we cannot allow to lie. Maybe error or ignorance seem to work better than the discovery and revelation of truth, but we suspect truth has never been given a fair trial. No matter what the cost, some of us are going to think.

But if we are going to cross the accepted with any degree of confidence, it is important that our thinking be clear, comprehensive and cogent.