Critical thinking is lost when we strive to belong at all costs.
When our need for inclusion overwhelms our objectivity, we give up what we stand for in favour of what the group stands for.
If that group is driven by a collective victim mindset, we’ll buy into it while finding strength in being around others who share our struggle for significance.
The more their views resonate with our emotional needs, the more the pervasive ignorance that drives their behaviour will appear as collective wisdom to us.
The only antidote to such sways of emotion is to have a healthy self esteem.
A healthy self esteem is developed when we hold ourselves accountable for what we stand for, rather than reassuring ourselves that we’re correct because others agree with us.
But that means that our need to stand up for what we believe in is grounded in a value system that we consciously subscribe to, and not one that we blindly inherited because we found our predecessors doing it that way.
And that is where critical thinking is either adopted or abandoned.
When we’re faced with honouring traditions that have long since outgrown our reality, or honouring customs that were developed out of ignorance and are now harmful to the progress of society, we become blind followers who create harm while having good intentions.
Our value system must be grounded in something greater than our opinion of how life works, or what celebrated individuals may think.
It must be grounded in a credible source that is above reproach not because we’re not allowed to question it, but because when scrutinised for credibility, it withstands the test of integrity.
The greatest threat to mankind is the absence of critical thinking, because it places the accountability of the individual in the hands of leaders who may be driven by selfish goals.
Thus, society is corrupted, and religion becomes a tool for control rather than harmonious social bonds.
The greatest gift that you can give to this world is to raise a critical thinker, not a blind follower.
#selfworth #selfawareness #mentalhealth #mentalhealthawareness #lifecoaching #zaidismail #theegosystem #ownyourlife #criticalthinking #victimmindset
The death of critical thinkers
