Bet Your Life!
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Thinking Truth III
In order for a person to truly experience and be cognizant of change, within one’s self, a great deal of study has to take place. The information that has to be studied is not going to be easy to find, and, if found, not easy to learn. How to know what information that is pertinent, to the quest for truth, is going to take time to learn. Strategies and methodologies must be learned before one can begin to recognize the how and the why. Now, at this time, in what is known as the Age of Aquarius or the age of intelligence, survival cannot be accomplished using old ways of thinking and or believing. The world, as it has been in the past, is no longer what it was, and also, the world is not the planet. Thinking of the world as the planet has caused serious thinking disorders and is going to cause even greater problems for the not yet born. And if, past thinking patterns are inserted into future generations then past problems are going to get worse. If the price of existence in the world has changed then the way a person thinks is also going to have to change. The older patterns of thinking that have been handed down by the public school systems, by closed minded parents, by misinformed clergy and so-called teachers of text book information is at this moment creating an atmosphere of all engulfing fear. Fear, especially when it is unrealized, is the emotion that begets worry, unhappiness, frustration, anxiousness, greed, envy, and will not allow the least bit of harmony. Harmony is a key factor in the equation if individuals are going to be able to create a future community. Only the coming together of intelligent individuals will provide them the power to create the secure environment that they will need in order to survive.
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How was the world previously and dos it differ in the present?
ReplyDeleteThe answer to your question is intricate and is probably a discussion that should take place in class and not on this public media.
DeleteMister Black!
Yea fear is big.....I was at my friends house over the weekend. I was very fearful of what I perceived to be a big problem. However, when she and her husband returned to where I was, her husband was able to think through the situation and help me solve it with minimal repercussions. But my point is, I was literally paralyzed by fear and I didn't realize it. I thought I was behaving normally. Thats why its good to surround yourself with "right thinking people".
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ReplyDeleteComment by Tereka M
The realization that I must first learn methodologies to even find information, makes me realize that most of the information that I have learned and built my life and ideologies around have been from information that has come to me. I've only now begin to even realize that I, not only have the ability to question and/or verify, but also the responsibility. When I began to see that all is not what it appears to have been, that has been extremely humbling (and even humiliating).
And in response to Al's question and the subsequent answer, perhaps THAT is the reason that I cannot find great motivation in these grand tasks of "saving the world around me." I don't even know how to define this world. I set out years ago trying to find out what the truth was. Because I didn't know where to look, I stopped.
Comment by Rashonda Lewis (Moore)
ReplyDeleteI started Mr. Black’s classes as a college student many years ago after hearing his radio lecture on discipline in the African American community. At the end of the lecture, Mr. Black invited listeners to attend his Learning to Learn (L2L) class held each Saturday at a local art gallery. I must admit I started the class with mixed emotions and a lot of questions. On the one hand, I was doubtful – how was someone else going to teach me to think or learn? I’d been thinking and learning since I was born, right? No special class needed. On the other hand, I had sense enough to know that my education had not even come close to preparing me for the world in which I found myself.
The best way to explain what you get out of these classes is to compare them to regular school. In school, the student is handed information. The student memorizes that information. The student passes the test. The student graduates. This set up is a passive learning process. Aside from your higher level math courses, not much thinking is required. If the student has a good memory and is fairly disciplined, she will do fine. With L2L, the student examines closely what she knows – looking closely at her information’s origin, purpose, context and most importantly -- veracity. Here’s an example. In school, a student is taught that Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 and “discovered” America. The student would take this information and examine the origin, purpose, context and veracity of this information. Who is the source of this information? What is the purpose of the historians/writers who recorded this piece of history? What are the alternative accounts of this part of history? The student will also examine, what she does not know and how to acquire that information. This set up is an active process. It takes a lot of thought and a lot of work. The class is by no means an assault on public education. However, L2L students will often find themselves saying … I didn’t learn this in school or we didn’t talk about this in school.
I think it goes without saying how critical thinking skills are imperative for a person who wishes to be successful in any area of life. Whether you are an attorney attempting to lay out an effective defense, a physician attempting to determine the etiology of a patient’s disease, an engineer who must achieve that solid foundation for a new building, or a parent who wishes to prepare her children to thrive in today’s world, the ability to think critically and logically is imperative.
Finally, what was most striking about the L2L classes and Mr. Blacks methods of teaching was that anyone could learn. The classes included 5 year olds and senior citizens, corporate executives and mechanics, Mensa members and kids with the spectrum of labels – learning disabled, dyslexic, hyperactive, delinquent, etc. And guess what? We all learned to learn together.
After reading this post, I found it difficult to write out my thoughts. So many questions regarding both fear and anger. Could this anger and fear exist because of a sense of one not being in control of their own world or coming into a realization that one has relinquished control of their world? Could realizing these things be considered as part of the process of studying or coming to know the self? Observing my grandchild, I came to realize how much young children learn or know without any outside guidance or instruction; how to roll, how to crawl, how to stand, how to find their balance etc. Just from watching the question came, how much of that natural sense of being is hampered from outside influence.
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