10 Tips For Thinking Clearly In A Confused World
“The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.”
-F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Crack-Up”, Esquire, 1936.
I read this quote from an anthology when I was in high school, and without knowing it, it became a compass for my thinking. If there’s one general theme to summarise my life, then the theme would be a constant revision of opinions. The prospect of not knowing what I don’t know terrifies me, and this fear encourages me to examine my beliefs and ideas thoroughly, especially during moments when I start to feel self-righteous, zealous and passionate.
After years of practising this self-scrutiny, I realized that what I intuited vaguely in high school has turned into an orientation of thinking. I also realized that what I was after when I read philosophy wasn’t a theory to explain the world, but tools that allowed me to wander freely in the world of ideas.
In this post, I’d like to summarise what I’ve learned from my journey, and I hope this will encourage you to develop your own tools for independent thinking.
1: All investigations start with curiosity
Schools have conditioned us to hunt for solutions before allowing any space for our minds to wander. But the history of ideas, time after time, has supplied us with examples of thinkers who dared to dance on the edge of understanding without succumbing to the urge to conclude their thinking. Conclusions and solutions might feel pleasant for a split second. Still, the true pleasure of thinking arises when we spend years contemplating a question while relishing in the joy of following our curious bliss.
2: The first opinion on a topic is always incomplete
Western intellectual traditions value “presence” above anything else. With the rise of social media, sometimes we feel rushed to project our immediate opinions just to be a part of a discussion, or, to remain “present” in the public discourse. But if our goal is to understand a situation holistically, a considered amount of passivity opens us up to new information that could lead to different conclusions. While it is important to assert our opinions, leaving space to change our minds is essential for thinking clearly.
3: Be aware of big generalisations
Bad ideas and flawed opinions have one common feature: they’re usually broad generalisations that are too reductionistic to handle a complex issue. A broad generalisation might be exciting at the moment, but an enduring idea always asks: but what about this? It is never satisfied until it exhausts all possible fringe cases. While it is impossible to arrive at an idea that’s 100% exhaustive, this exercise allows us to perceive depth and complexity in seemingly simple questions.
4: The first reading is always misguided
Whenever I re-read a book, I’m always in awe of how wrong I was when I first read it. When we first encounter an insight from a book, it’s easy to gloat about our intelligence and run with the first impression of the idea. But age and experience quickly falsify those early conclusions we’ve stumbled upon, making space for a more nuanced reading and tempered understanding. There’s always more depth to a book than a first reading could probe. When dealing with books that are sufficiently complex, always entertain the possibility that you’ve misread it.
5: Confusion is a sign of progress
The late-modern age has an aversion to anything obscure. We want things to be clear, understandable and intelligible from the get-go. But better thinking always emerges after a long period of chaos, where the mind has to stretch itself beyond comfort and entertain alien thoughts. Hence, instead of viewing confusion as something to run away from, embrace it and trust that the chaos will not last forever. Eventually, a new order of thinking will open up as your mind grows comfortable with increasing complexity.
6: An idea is always insane before you discuss it with your friends
The mind is a bullshit machine that convinces itself that it’s not that. The ideas we feed ourselves will always seem more profound, truthful and righteous than the opinions of others. And in extreme cases, insanity emerges when we refuse any external input to course-correct our thoughts. To combat this, I love to bounce my ideas around with friends and people I trust to ensure I’m not falling off the wagon completely.
7: Sometimes, you don’t even know what you truly believe
It’s easy to borrow beliefs in our informational age without thinking them through. Pretending to believe in an idea to appear more virtuous, righteous and altruistic is the quickest way to avoid introspection. Sometimes, after a long period of self-reflection, it might be shocking to discover that we actually resonate with things that are outdated, archaic and downright stupid. Admitting that to ourselves is the first step toward revising our flawed ideas instead of allowing them to fester under the guise of false virtue.
8: Take a step back when you’re feeling self-righteous
Whenever we’re mad at something or someone, notice that we never point the finger back at ourselves. We’re too busy building a reason for how the Other’s in the wrong and how we’re indubitably correct. The mature response is to consider: that maybe we’re in the wrong. Whether you’re right or wrong is irrelevant here. The point is to get comfortable with opposing viewpoints while remaining open-minded, and taking a step back goes a long way.
9: Never Enter a debate just to prove a point
Debates are fun, but it’s easy to confuse them with thinking things through. It’s easy to get carried away with arguments that lead nowhere just to be right. Deliberate contemplation, on the other hand, requires you to contradict yourself, get confused, stumble and eventually come to terms with a working idea. None of them are good candidates for a debate, but they all allow you to cultivate your critical thinking skills.
10: Always ground theory in practice
Academics routinely fall into the trap of living in abstractions and get mad at their lack of real-life results. Some theories, while impressive and elaborate, are a complete waste of time to read because they have zero links to how we live our lives. A good theory, however, directly changes our perception of everyday life and informs our actions. Instead of getting lost in technicalities, ask yourself how a theory impacts aspects of your life and try to ground it in experience. Ideally, theory and practice should inform one other, because both, in their extremes, tend to lead to stupid conclusions.
