How much of your mind do you own?

"Ships are safe anchored in the harbour. But this is not what ships are made for." -- Hon. Chief Justice Andrew Kwok-nang Li

"Question Everything!" So instructs the old bumper sticker. Yeah, it's catchy and makes us stop and think -- which is surely the whole point, right? -- but we're not to take that literally, are we? Obviously not, for to do so would be a never-ending exercise in mental masturbation...wouldn't it?!

That depends on how you look at it, Grasshopper....

My reading of this admonition parallels my take on "pray without ceasing": I take it to mean not that we should spend all of our time and attention on this sole activity, but rather that we should adopt an attitude of vigilant questioning (or prayfulness, as the case may be). In other words, be willing to question everything. Being ready to roll up your sleeves and do the hard work of digging down to the roots of something, questioning the assumptions, weighing the arguments, and unearthing your own biases and prejudices.

"Good God, why?!", you cry, "Isn't life hard enough without making unnecessary work for ourselves?!" And my answer is: It's only hard because you aren't practiced at it...and you need to get good at this.

Again with your "why's"? Okay, wrap your brain around this: If you don't do this, your mind is not your own; it's the product of the manipulations of others, plain and simple.

Back when you were young and your mind was an empty sponge, all the authority figures in your life -- parents, teachers, clergymen, relatives, your Scoutmaster -- tried to teach you all sorts of things that would help you grow up to be a happy, healthy, likeable, productive, brave, reverent, thrifty, clean, trustworthy, educated and reliable bigger person. Almost all of which was undeniably well-intended, and most of which was truly helpful. But...

...they didn't know everything; they learned what they knew from their authority figures, who also didn't know everything. And your time and society and circumstances are not the same as theirs. Even if they were thoughtful, reflective people, what they taught you back then applied to that time and circumstance; they can't live your life for you, now. No, that is your job. So what they should have taught you, first and foremost, is how to think for yourself.

And to do that effectively you have to use some form of critical thinking. For those of you unfamiliar with this, it is the Scientific Method applied to your own reasoning. It is one of the important tools for preventing you from misleading yourself, from rationalizing the ludicrous, and for helping you sniff out other people's (and your own!) bullshit. For consciously leading a better life. That's why.

If you swallowed everything you were ever told whole, without chewing it and digesting it, then all your beliefs belong to someone else. You don't "own" them.

And if you don't own your belief structure, then you don't completely "own" your own mind.


Awww...don't lose any sleep over it. You've gotten this far, Sparky, so you can't be too far off. And I'll be back soon to help you over this hurdle.

Phil