Thoughts on Thinking

I've recently discovered a great respect I have for talented thinkers. Of course, we're all thinkers! But we're not all C.S. Lewis-es  or Einsteins. It seems that some people have discovered how to use their brains in a better way than the rest of the world. Becoming a better thinker is an aspiration that I have found myself longing after. 

To me, being a talented thinker means to be able to hold conflicting ideas in ones head simultaneously while seeing the validity in each. It means to have a thirst for a deeper understanding of, well, everything. It means being able to hold up ones side of an intellectually challenging conversation. On those same lines of communication, thinking well means to be able to convey ones thoughts and ideas in an way that is received well by audiences. It means not letting ones brain go idle.

I aspire to be a better thinker. I want to be better informed about the world around me. I want not only to know a lot, but to be able to put that knowledge to use in a meaningful way. I want to be able to play with ideas in my head and come up with answers and ideas that rely on other peoples work, but also contain a hint of the capability of  my brain.

My high school world history teacher once told that at this point in time there are no original thoughts left. Everything that I have ever thought about, debated, written, or spoken has been thought about, debated, written, and spoken before. Total bummer, right? I simply don't understand how that can be even close to true. There is so much left unknown about, well, everything. And if there are still things that we have yet to discover, does that not leave things that we haven't  thought about, debated, written, and spoken? I'd like to think that there is still mystery left on this planet.

In pursuit of my goal, I have come up with some things that I believe will lead to bettering the quality of my thinking. Reading and writing are powerful tools for this. They engage the brain in many ways. Reading is a great way of collecting knowledge and writing is a great way of conveying knowledge. Those concepts are pretty easy to pick out, but take time and discipline to develop. I've also discovered that listening is a really helpful technique for becoming a better thinker. I have room to grow in all of these areas, but listening is especially difficult for me. It's a skill I'm still learning.

I really admire people that posses the self-discipline it takes to skillfully think as a lifestyle. This goal is not one that can be achieved necessarily, it 's more a matter of consistently growing in it. I look forward to figuring out what my brain is capable of doing.