Today, we will begin an exercise in straight thinking.  These basic questions will make an interesting discussion with your teenager.  This article will ask whether we can come to the conclusion that the human heart shows evidence of intelligent, purposeful design.   For our example, we will use the heart and its purpose (from the brief discussion in the previous article), but we could choose any organ.  

Are there indications that the human heart shows evidence of intelligent, purposeful design?

Note: The question here seeks only one thing: evidence of purposeful, intelligent design — not evidence of a designer.  To encumber the question with more than one issue will only multiply the trails the discussion can or must take and will lead to endless and fractured discussion.  We must take only one trail at a time.  Other questions are for other discussions. 

Our procedure:   

Prepare our minds

To begin with, we must approach the issue with an open mind (as always) and this is not easy to do.  All of us, to some extent, have formed beliefs and tend to defend those beliefs because we are invested in their formation.  They are our beliefs.  

• First, bring to the subject a mind that can stand outside of itself and observe without feelings clouding the issue.  
• Additionally, reject a mind that seeks to find evidence to support a conviction it already holds (evidence to support an ideology or belief that it feels is essential to our convictions).  Truth needs no defense. Rather, it is to be found and followed.  
• Also, let’s be aware that most of our beliefs are based on both reasons and emotions.   Therefore, let’s make an effort to divorce our minds, for the purposes of this exercise, from any emotional needs we have and focus on reason alone, to begin with. 
• It is not that we believe reason alone or even the scientific method can lead us to all truth.  It can’t.  Discuss why?  

Determine the requirements for our goal:

Next, we must now ask what we would need in order to provide proof that the design of the human heart shows evidence “beyond a reasonable doubt” that it is thoughtfully planned for a purpose?  Note again:  we are limiting our discussion to the subject of design.  

Consider the elements required in a purposeful design

Finally, to show proof of design, we must consider the elements we can reasonably expect to find in the making of a purposeful design.

In our next article, we will begin to flag some essentials for our consideration.

The post Is the Human Heart Evidence of Intelligent Design? appeared first on RayWLincoln.com.

Science and Materialism

The articles in this series will help you educate yourself about the big debate that is staging a comeback in Science and Religion.  Parents are likely to be aware of how atheistic and anti-religious thinking has taken over the minds of educational institutions and most philosophic and scientifically oriented minds.  We and our children need straight thinking about the issues currently under debate that will shape all our lives.  These articles may open your mind and that of your children to legitimate ways of thinking about our world. And it may help them begin to form a more meaningful “worldview.”  Today, we’ll consider the role of a philosophy of truth.

Science has done wonders for our world — for which we can be most thankful.  These improvements affect many areas of our lives (such as the astounding advances in medical science).  However, it is not science that has set the stage for the introduction of our modern culture.  The repudiation of believing anything that savors of religious or traditional beliefs is responsible.  It is a new way of thinking about ourselves and our world that the underlying beliefs of science, in reality, nurture (if not always intentionally).  

The Philosophy of Science versus the Philosophy of Truth

Philosophy and the philosophy of science are responsible for changing the thinking and beliefs of our educational institutions and of the next generation.  Many intellectuals and theologians (  whom have shifted the focal point of faith) hold a revered status and are now being seen as the purveyors of truth.  They have made changes in theological beliefs in the name of being “relevant” to the changing thinking of secular academic educators.  

The Authority of Science versus the Philosophy of Truth

Consequently, these changes have altered the views of where we turn for our ultimate authority in all matters of life.  In fact, current interpretations of scientific discoveries are where people are expected to turn for what to believe about themselves and their world.  Where we turn for truth has dramatically changed from what people believed at the beginning of Western civilization and the worldwide march of Christianity.  As a result, the current conviction is that the former beliefs are merely a crutch for those with weak psyches.  

Are We Discovering Truth or Accepting Assumptions?

Are these changes in beliefs the discovery of truth?  Or are they the acceptance of mere assumptions that are not reasonably based on evidence?  We will find out.  Although science has made great strides in understanding how our world functions, a clear understanding of science’s limitations is needed to keep our thinking straight.  

Science proceeds by discovering one mistake of its own after another.  

Examples you can use of this pattern of mistakes are:

• “The earth is flat.” But we’ve discovered that it is round.  
• “The sun and planets revolve around the earth.”  We’ve learned the truth: that the earth and planets revolve around the sun. 
• And we’ve learned that the universe is expanding. This was not thought of earlier.    
• “The sun is solid.” But now we know that it is nothing but gas.   
• The sun’s heat is the result of nuclear fusion. But this is a relatively recent discovery.  
• Changes in medications are common.  This is due to further knowledge of the biochemistry of the human systems and the result of further research.   

Find illustrations of your own.  

There are many partial truths that are promoted as real “facts.”  But the fact is, science simply needs more knowledge.  Therefore, a philosophy of truth is reliant on more than current science because the nature of science is to change.  Facts and truth do not change.  Science simply progressively discovers the.

In my new book Who Am I?, I describe how we have become “crooked thinkers” and how to break out of this prison of the mind to become instruments of change for a better world by recognizing the source of our value as humans.  You can get your copy HERE.  (Psst!  Subscribers to my weekly updates can receive a 15% discount and free shipping from the above link!)

NOW AVAILABLE IN AUDIO FROM:

LIBRO.FM   Kobo, Walmart  Google Play  Scribd  NOOK Audiobooks  Apple  Audible, Amazon

DISCOVER THE TRUTH OF WHO YOU ARE!

Lean into the whole truth by discovering the truth of who YOU are — the “Real You” — and who your children truly are.  Discover how to best engage your children in finding the whole truth.  Our team at InnerKinetics is ready to provide that help.  If you’d like some assistance, you can request a consultation and an InnerKinetics consultant will call you to answer questions and schedule your meeting. Schedule an Initial Consultation. If you are more independent and want to cut to the chase, you need not wait for a call back because you can get answers to your questions and schedule your session HERE.

The post The Philosophy of Truth Versus the Nature of Science appeared first on RayWLincoln.com.

Is it logical and reasonable?  We often ask this question.  We use these two words, logical and reasonable, frequently and we need them in our repertoire of words.  But have we stopped to understand the place logic and reason hold in our thinking, and the place they hold in the thinking of our culture?  Is thinking logically the same as straight thinking?  What would you say?

Is thinking logically essential to the truth?

Greek, Latin, French, Spanish, and English contain the words logic and reason in the form of cognates, and maybe many other languages do, too.  A science has been built around their use that seeks to provide a structure for valid thinking and reasoning.  Logical thinking is commonly recognized as essential to clear understanding when accurately sharing our thoughts.

Does thinking logically guarantee truthful statements?

Notice something:  Logic and reason are limited to expressing our thoughts correctly.  They are not the tools for correctly finding and stating the truth.  A false assumption (a speculation that is firmly believed), logically argued, cannot be claimed as the truth.  Imagined truths are not going to guarantee that we are thinking straight, either.  Thinking straight is representing the truth or the facts correctly.  When we get the facts wrong or show no concern for the truth, we are smack-bang in the middle of how our current cultural revolution thinks.

Logical thinking and reason depend on these

Logic and reason depend on:

1. Having the facts right and
2. Having the truth about them correctly stated to begin with. 

Otherwise, all the scientific structuring of our language will have no promise of the truth.  We are living in a culture whose basic principles not only state we can’t find absolute truth anywhere, but this culture is also disinterested and not persuaded by the logical and reasonable representation of the facts.

Now, that is a mental place unknown to science and common sense, as well as all rational thinking.  No wonder the crooked thinkers of our culture don’t even want to “get us” when we talk about real facts and truth.  However, you have no doubt noticed that they recognize real facts and truths — such as the danger of stepping out in front of a speeding car — just like we do.  Therefore, they live every day of their lives disproving their own beliefs (that we cannot find absolute truth) with their actions.  All of us must pay attention to reality, fact, and truth that exist all around us in every moment of every day.

How then do we talk to our teenagers when they employ crooked thinking?

How do we talk with our teenagers, who have been immersed in the crooked thinking that truth is not important?  We must demonstrate to them the importance of truth, real facts, and the difference between opinions and the truth.  Help them recognize the realities, truths, and facts that they face every day at home, at school, and in their relationships.  Even sound rules are necessary facts that we must live by.  All games are built around their rules.  Does it produce a smile that one day your teen will be faced with the task of parenting?

Talk about facts: the need to eat and drink, for example, and ask them if it is true that they need to eat and drink.  Do the facts matter?  Can they live without them?  How will they feel if they keep ignoring them?  It is foolish to deny what we can’t live happily without.  Convince them that the real fools are the ones who fail to recognize and pay heed to the facts of life, our universe, who we are, and how we function best.  Demonstrate whenever you can’t convince them with reason and logic.  Use examples from unavoidable experiences of life — even matters that we must accept by faith.

In my new book Who Am I?, I describe how we have become “crooked thinkers” and how to break out of this prison of the mind to become instruments of change for a better world by recognizing the source of our value as humans.  You can get your copy HERE.  (Psst!  Subscribers to my weekly updates can receive a 15% discount and free shipping from that link!)

DISCOVER THE TRUTH OF WHO YOU ARE!

Lean into the whole truth by discovering the truth of who YOU are — the “Real You” — and who your children truly are.  Discover how to best engage your children in finding the whole truth.  Our team at InnerKinetics is ready to provide that help.  If you’d like some assistance, you can request a consultation and an InnerKinetics consultant will call you to answer questions and schedule your meeting. Schedule an Initial Consultation. If you are more independent and want to cut to the chase, you need not wait for a call back because you can get answers to your questions and schedule your session HERE.

THE WAY TO HAVE A HEALTHY MENTAL SYSTEM

WEEKLY HELP FOR YOUR MIND/BRAIN

This weekly addition to my articles provides practical guidance for the application of commonly known facts about brain health. 

WHY WE NEED TO EXERCISE OUR BODIES TO DEVELOP AND FEED OUR BRAINS

Don’t skip these five reasons.

Watch next week for a BONUS REASON #6!   

Reason five:  Mental and physical exercise can be used to develop tools that help us improve our mental management skills.  Tools that don’t become “built-in” to our regular mental processing are of little help over the long haul of life.  Therefore, how does physical and mental exercise do this and what are the tools it builds into our psyches?   

Repetition

First, we know that repetition in the building of habits is an indispensable tool.  Habits are repeated patterns of behavior and the brain loves patterns.  Repeat, repeat, repeat.

Structure

Clarity in thinking requires structure, so we should develop a repeatable plan for how we will go about our mental and physical exercise.  It may be as we run or walk for the physical benefit that we also think of the facts involved in a decision we must make and their consequences.  Then we make our decisions, benefiting from double using the already dedicated time.

Thinking our thoughts as we write them

When we think, we talk to ourselves in one form or another.  I think the best way to talk to ourselves is by writing our thoughts and thinking as we write, changing them and reevaluating them as we write.  It amounts to a mental adventure.  Writing provides discipline that aids concentration.  The goal is not to simply express our thoughts but to discover new ones, enlarging them, and clarifying them at the same time.  Beware, this kind of writing is not an exercise in perfection.  Talking to ourselves on paper or computer gives our thoughts the freedom of flow.  All that is flooding your mind as you put words on paper should be regarded as important enough to consider.  Limiting them limits the adventure.

Apply straight thinking

Apply the standards of straight thinking to your thoughts and judge them by those standards.  Just because you thought them does not mean they are automatically accurate or fully truthful.

Thought examination

Examine your thoughts.  See what they seem to say and what they do not say.  Apply this process to all significant decisions as well.  You are on your way to creating personal tools that will serve you well for the rest of your life.

The post A Hard Look at Logic, Reason, and Our Culture appeared first on RayWLincoln.com.

Do you believe the sun won’t rise tomorrow or that the north pole will be 110 degrees on Christmas Eve?  Why not?  Because of what we call facts that are known to all of us.  Can we live successful lives if we ignore the facts which can lead us to the truth?  Indeed, no.  Because facts and truth are inseparable.  It’s like a marriage of facts and truth.

Straight Thinking Summarized Is the Marriage of Facts and Truth

Previously, we arrived in an article at a summary statement of straight thinking: namely, truthfulness.  Importantly, the search for a truthful understanding of the facts and the development of healthy values lead to a life of happiness and contentment.  Therefore, it should be a passionate drive in all of us.  So, let’s take a good look at a list of straight thinking’s requirements to aid us in finding the truth.  I think you will find truth undergirds all the elements of straight thinking.

Straight Thinking Must Think Factually

Above all, it is important to remember that facts are the building blocks of truth.  Those facts can be objective or subjective, outside or inside ourselves. However, ignoring the facts because they contradict our cherished ideologies is the beginning of crooked thinking.

I can’t help being astounded at the thoughtless, empty-headed statement of Nietzsche (the German theologian turned philosopher and a bitter, angry opponent of Christianity).  He cried, “No facts, only interpretations.”  Amazingly, he became famous for such an inane statement.   Can you imagine that?  Thoughtless statements can make some people famous!  It doesn’t matter how he meant it, because his statement’s face value is of a bungling, unreal, mental blindness and a disregard for reality and truth that is all around us.  We would all become extremely nervous if the facts indicated the sun would not rise tomorrow.  We find peace of mind only in our respect for facts and reality.

Today’s Common Beliefs Echo Nietzsche

It is commonly believed by those who are changing our culture that there are no real facts, only interpretations — our own opinions about the facts.  This is thoughtless!  It ignores the marriage of facts and truth.  With this in mind, here are a few sources of facts.

• First, the facts (not the theories of science) are certainties.
• Second, things that can be verified (such as that the world is round and other countless realities we experience in this world we live in daily) are facts.

Accuracy Requires Facts and Truth

Our mothers try to teach us the needed facts of hygiene, etc.  What is more, we cannot think about anything with accuracy if we don’t have some facts with which to begin.

And have you thought of this?  Thinking controls our emotions!  Consequently, when our emotions have gone manic or are unrestrained by reality, we become victims of our rejection of facts and truth.

C. S. Lewis, the famous Oxford Don and outstanding author once remarked in his search for truth that Christianity was simply another myth.  He was corrected by Tolstein’s quick response that, unlike a myth, Christian beliefs are rooted in historical facts.  Yes, facts matter.  What is more, straight thinking, which is the path to managing a sane and self-controlled life, starts with the facts.  For this reason, we can’t afford to deny the facts and truth without becoming a mental train wreck.

THIS WEEK’S FOCUS

This week help your friends, children, and those you love to live by the facts and not the crooked imaginings of philosophers like Nietzsche.  A crazy culture that flies in the face of facts is seeking to take over our thinking.  So, resist it in the name of truth.  Don’t let it distort your mind.

THE WAY TO HAVE A HEALTHY MENTAL SYSTEM

Weekly Help for Your Mind/Brain

This weekly addition to my articles provides practical guidance for the application of commonly known facts about brain health. 

The brain is approximately 75-80% fat — cholesterol, actually.  It doesn’t take much thinking to see that we must feed it the right fats as part of our care program.

Healthy Fats

With that thought, we must remember that healthy fats* include adequate omega 3 oils, such as those found in deep-sea fish (like salmon) and other plentiful omega 3 sources such as coconut oil (also in the form of MCT oil), olive oil, avocado oil, healthy grass-fed animal fats from animals not given antibiotics or fattened on grains.  All other fats create problems for the brain and the brain must fight the damage they do — often, only to slowly lose the fight over time.

Healthy Fat Sources

Many of the most common fats on the shelves of supermarkets are peddled by industry giants who disclaim that they cause any damage to the brain.  Unfortunately, they place their own interests before yours and have been shown to be producing oils that twenty years ago were still considered safe — but no longer!  When it comes to diet, reliable research has changed our knowledge of fats and what they do to the body.  Fats are essential, but only when we choose the healthy ones, some of which I have listed above.

Therefore, some diet adjustments may be needed and, if so, consider:

• It is your responsibility to take care of your brain, not the advertising agency.
• Beware! Science has not always been right, especially science driven by big money.
• Of primary importance is the fact that we want to feed a brain what it needs to remain vibrant and healthy to our very last day.
• Again, no one else is responsible for your brain’s health.  (I keep reminding myself of this).

Next:  More diet awareness.

*The fats I have listed include those now recommended by research and sources not dependent on pharmaceutical and industrial monies that fuel their research.  Books that will help you to learn about the right fats include, Wheat Belly Total Health by William Davis MD, and Grain Brain by David Perlmutter MD, among a slew of others. 

The post The Marriage of Facts and Truth appeared first on RayWLincoln.com.

We control our emotions by controlling our thinking, so let’s make sure the foundation for our thinking is truly straight and will help us control our emotions in the way that is best for us.  Thinking always gives birth to emotions.  Our concern is whether they are emotions that we can happily unleash or ones that must be tightly restricted so as not to damage others or ourselves.  For each person and for each country in this world, straight thinking will be determined by truth, accuracy, and values.  The fight in many societies around the world is about all three.  It has been from the beginning of time.  It will continue to be until we find the truth, and love and peace come to reign in human hearts.  In no way should our knowledge that this is not yet the description of our world diminish our passionate quest to find truth, accuracy, and values.    

When We Fail to Demand Truth

Where truth fails to be a requirement of straight and honest thinking, falsehood and lies become rampantly believed by the unwitting and unthinking populace.  People easily become victims of untrue statements if they are repeated often enough.  If the thinking of some who we choose to follow is crooked, we often don’t pause to examine what we are swallowing.  Even though all of us are aware of deceitful advertising (which is commonplace and whose goal is to persuade us to buy rather than to reveal the whole truth about a service or product), we often let it affect us for no more than cherished emotions.  Who hasn’t been fooled by less than truthful marketing?  When truth is not the basic concern of a society, it is open to being duped and, in some instances, controlled.  Loss of intelligent decisions and of freedom are the sad results.

Accuracy Is an Essential Concern to Find Truth

Accuracy is a concern of truth, but it is also essential in the pursuit of truth.  Beliefs must be the result of accurate thinking and fact-finding.  It will always be our responsibility to evaluate what we see, read, and hear.  When we lack full and complete knowledge, a reasonable understanding of all the known facts must undergird our thinking.  This is the foundation of thinking that controls our emotions.  Do I have the truth and is it the whole truth as far as I am able to determine?  Am I circumventing the facts to pacify my feelings?

Our Values Are Shaped by Our Thinking

We don’t need to argue the need for truth and accuracy in our lives.  It’s impossible to keep track of our financial condition without both.  We rely on truth and accuracy in almost everything that affects our lives.  Values are the favorite targets of all those who don’t want to be limited by morals or ethics — but that’s another subject.  Suffice it to say that no society can exist in peace without standards for the way we must live together.

When We Fail to Find Truth, We Pervert Our Values

Values arise out of straight and crooked thinking, too.  Untruths and unexamined thinking lead to depraved values.  A life based on perverted values leads to decisions that will make that life less than appealing to others and to us. Why, with only one life to live, do we want to settle for less than the best?

This Week’s Focus:

This week, double your quest for truth, accuracy, and rewarding values.  Create a mind that loves all three by giving them a lot of attention.  Attention is the way we feel loved and the way we nurture love in our hearts and minds.

The Way to Have a Healthy Mental System

Weekly Help for Your Mind/Brain

This weekly addition to my articles provides practical guidance for the application of commonly known facts about brain health. 

Total health as far as our physical organs go is, first and foremost, caring for the brain.  We all thought it was the heart, but consider these facts:

1. We pay most of our attention to any part of the body that gives us the most feedback.  Pain is feedback and we pay attention when we feel it.  The heart can be felt when it is not doing well, whereas the brain can’t.
2. We also think of our heart as life or death and we know we can’t do without a healthy pump.  True, but read on.
3. The brain doesn’t often send pain messages, so we forget about its needs until we notice a deteriorated, short-term memory or some other mental disfunction.  Often, that’s too late for a full recovery.  Damage has already been done*.
4. The brain controls all physical factors in the body, including the heart.  Therefore, it is more important than the heart.
5. If the brain is sick, it affects the heart, too.  The whole body is weakened as a result.
6. The brain is the most delicate organ in our bodies and, therefore, requires thoughtful care and assistance from its owner.  When we are receiving no negative feedback (and of course, no pain), we must still meet its needs.
7. Solid bone structure encases the brain to wisely protect it; the heart has less protection.
8. What feeds and keeps the brain healthy keeps the heart healthy.
9. The brain is our number one concern for health and for how successfully we can achieve.

Next: The brain’s dietary needs, and then lots more before we talk about the mind.

* There are still things we can do to help our brain recover, but please don’t let it go that far.  Take care of it from youth.    

Lean into the whole truth by discovering the truth of who YOU are — the “Real You” — and who your children truly are, as well as how to best engage your children in finding the whole truth.  Our team at InnerKinetics is ready to provide that help.  If you’d like some assistance, you can request a consultation and an InnerKinetics consultant will call you to answer questions and schedule your meeting. Schedule an Initial Consultation. If you are more independent and want to cut to the chase, you need not wait for a call back because you can get answers to your questions and schedule your session HERE.

The post We Find Truth with Straight Thinking appeared first on RayWLincoln.com.

Straight Thinking About Facts — Part 2

There’s even more to straight thinking about facts than the issues to which I referred in my last article.  We must consider how we will proceed when evidence is unavailable.  What do we rely on to determine whether we are considering verifiable facts when there is no abundance of evidence?  Does bias always negatively affect our thinking?  And what is the role of consistency in straight thinking (i.e., in finding truth)?  Let’s examine these.

Finding Truth When Evidence is Unavailable

When we lack the ability to examine evidence or it lies beyond our capabilities to verify, “sufficient” evidence is a way of arriving at an acceptably verified fact.  If the evidence is abundant, or in some other way convincing, it can be used to determine facts on which our straight thinking can then reasonably depend.  Evidence can be found everywhere in our physical universe, including in all the minutest details of design and purpose from those seen in the functioning of a living creature’s cells, to the amazing laws that govern the design of our universe, and in our valid subjective experiences and spiritual realities (which we can personally verify in our human experiences).

Common Sense Facts

We refer to some of these facts as “facts evidenced by common sense.”  That’s because of their common acceptance or of their being commonly verified.  Many of our daily experiences of life’s realities fall into this category.  It makes common sense to brush and clean our teeth and to dress adequately for the weather conditions.  The seemingly endless facts called common sense would fill volumes — and are hardly worth the effort to list them.  What do we rely on when the evidence in dispute is not sufficient beyond a reasonable doubt?

Open Questions

Arguments and beliefs based on inadequate evidence and factual support are suspect.  Perhaps the most common causes of disagreement are when the evidence in a dispute is not sufficient beyond a reasonable doubt.  Some things remain open questions for this reason.

Moral and Spiritual Truths

Because some are challenging moral and spiritual truths these days as having no absolute truth to them (which in this case is crooked thinking), we must find verification in the repeated experiences of humans and in the results those moral and spiritual truths are producing and have consistently produced.  For example, the moral actions that are best for a person’s health and wellbeing can be verified and reasoned as undeniable facts.  Another example: the majority of research projects that have studied faith and well-being have found that faith in a divine reality reduces the negative effects of stress and becomes a positive factor toward health and wellbeing.  So, let’s try to constantly improve our straight thinking skills.  Evidence must be carefully and honestly weighed and fairly and logically reported.

Bias’s Role in Finding Truth

Bias raises its suspicious head in all our thinking because all of us have formed values and beliefs on which we build our thoughts.  If we have no values or beliefs, we have come to no decisions.  Show me someone who has evaded making any decision in all matters of their life and I will show you someone who hasn’t been born yet.  Every time we make a decision we adopt a bias.  I like the color red, a juicy grilled steak, and a good night’s sleep.  Therefore, I am biased.

So, is bias bad or good?  It can be either.  The crookedness of biased thinking is when the bias refuses to face all the facts or misrepresents the facts.  This is when bias becomes destructive — the common tools of all crooked thinking: dishonesty, lying, and deception.

The Need for Consistency

Consistency is also important.  Commonly, people will present their reasons why they believe certain things and then, change their opinions midstream in a presentation of argument to avoid being trapped in some obvious error.  This inconsistency is the bread and butter of salacious arguments.  It is not straight thinking.

What are we teaching ourselves and our children?  Beliefs and arguments are to be based on verifiable facts, not on unsubstantiated opinions.

In my new book Who Am I?, I describe how we have become “crooked thinkers” and how to break out of this prison of the mind to become instruments of change for a better world by recognizing the source of our value as humans.  You can get your copy HERE.  (Psst!  Subscribers to my weekly updates can receive a 15% discount and free shipping from that link!)

Lean into the whole truth by discovering the truth of who YOU are — the “Real You” — and who your children truly are.  Discover how to best engage your children in finding the whole truth.  Our team at InnerKinetics is ready to provide that help.  If you’d like some assistance, you can request a consultation and an InnerKinetics consultant will call you to answer questions and schedule your meeting. Schedule an Initial Consultation. If you are more independent and want to cut to the chase, you need not wait for a call back because you can get answers to your questions and schedule your session HERE.

The post Finding Truth Without an Abundance of Evidence appeared first on RayWLincoln.com.

Straight thinking is also all about the facts.  What facts?  All that can be known.  And how do we define a fact?  Facts are truths that can be verified in one or more of several reliable ways that pass the test of “beyond a reasonable doubt.”  So, when thinking about facts, think straight by considering the following.

When Thinking About Facts, They Must Be Verifiable

Here are some of the ways facts can be verified for straight thinkers to confidently use.  Some are ways we use daily without realizing we are using them.

• “Two plus two equals four” is a fact that can be mathematically verified.
• Reality can be verified.  For example, the abstract concept of something being hard can be verified by experience.  Try bumping your head against a rock!  Soft can be verified by its softness, etc.  Realities are all around us.  We face the realities of the world every moment of every day and verify most of them repeatedly without thinking about it.  They are the meat and potatoes of a straight thinker.
• Facts discovered by science are verified by skilled scientific experiments and, sometimes, by what is obvious to all of us.  When heated, water turns to steam; and when it cools, it turns back to water.  We can all verify that as an obvious fact.
• The laws of physics can be verified and some of them can be felt and experienced.  Remember Newton’s apple?  Watch your language if gravity directs that apple at your head.
• Historical facts can be verified — some more than others.  For example, the Holocaust can be verified from many observable and reliable facts proving its reality.  To deny a fact like the Holocaust is ostrich-like behavior.
• Subjective realities are realities that we feel and experience but have no physical factors that we can verify objectively, such as a thought or a feeling.  These are still facts because they can also be verified by repeated occurrences under the same or similar conditions.  We often hear them referred to as common human experiences.
• And so on…

When Thinking About Facts, Understand the Difference Between Verification and Interpretation

Verification is not the same as interpretation.  Don’t confuse the two.  Interpretations are not necessarily facts.  They are opinions about what the facts mean.  Many of us can fall into this trap and treat interpretations of what the facts are supposedly telling us as though they are real and undeniable facts.  Professors sometimes fall into this trap of crooked thinking, along with politicians!  Anyone can be trapped.  Don’t you fall for mistaking interpretations for facts.  Straight thinking knows the difference.   

Straight Thinking Cannot Substitute Interpretation for Fact

Nietzsche was not thinking straight when he made the statement, “No facts, only interpretations.”  He obviously did not think that through.  Straight thinking would not make such a ridiculous statement.  He may have consumed food and water that morning and apparently missed the fact that these are necessary for his health and wellbeing.  Straight thinkers would not have said, “No facts!”  Nor would they have regarded the necessity of food and water as only an interpretation rather than a fact of life for us all.   

Here’s an example of mistaking interpretations for facts.  Investment advisors verify their decisions about a stock’s proposed performance in many ways — from the facts of a  financial report to the charted trends of a stock’s previous performance, even to the gut feeling they have about how a stock is going to react to the market.  They know success depends on a correct reading of the facts they can amass.  When an investment advisor passes his interpretations of a stock’s trend off as a fact, he or she is crossing the line between fact and interpretation.

Deliberate Substitution of Interpretation for Fact Is Deception

Life is a matter of decisions, and we humans have found many ways to rationally justify our decisions — or irrationally do so even if we know we are not thinking straight.  Straight thinking depends on verifiable facts that can be either objectively or subjectively verified.  Crooked thinking is often used to deceptively pass off an interpretation as a fact.  Please don’t sink to the mental dirt of deliberate deception.  To be continued…

In my new book Who Am I?, I describe how we have become “crooked thinkers” and how to break out of this prison of the mind to become instruments of change for a better world by recognizing the source of our value as humans.  You can get your copy HERE.  (Psst!  Subscribers to my weekly updates can receive a 15% discount and free shipping from that link!)

Lean into the whole truth by discovering the truth of who YOU are — the “Real You” — and who your children truly are.  Discover how to best engage your children in finding the whole truth.  Our team at InnerKinetics is ready to provide that help.  If you’d like some assistance, you can request a consultation and an InnerKinetics consultant will call you to answer questions and schedule your meeting. Schedule an Initial Consultation. If you are more independent and want to cut to the chase, you need not wait for a call back because you can get answers to your questions and schedule your session HERE.

The post Thinking About Facts Must Be “Straight” Thinking appeared first on RayWLincoln.com.

Straight thinking is all about another “moral” necessity: honesty and truthfulness.  Honesty not only includes telling the whole truth accurately, but honesty must be the motivation when seeking to tell the truth.  An attempt to be less than honest will end up in our twisting of the truth for our own purposes.  This is crooked thinking — crooked because it lies and corrupts the truth.  “Truthfully” means without falsification and twisting of the facts.   

History’s Hideous Examples Lacking Honesty and Truthfulness

Honest and truthfulness are very important ingredients of straight thinking.  History is replete with examples of thinking that is as crooked as a dog’s hind leg.  Perhaps the most hideous example is in the history of China.  Chinese leaders were killing citizens en mass and boiling the captured, forcing the unfortunate survivors to drink the human soup of their relatives and loved ones.  Consequently, China’s society was nearing total collapse.  Confucius appeared and, remarkably, was able to convince the main leaders of morally responsible behavior that saved the Chinese society from certain implosion. 

The Chinese people honor Confucius and his teachings to this very day, even if they do not adhere to his teachings politically.  Without morals, all societies eventually crumble.  An honest basis for reasoning starts not with our actions, but in the heart as personal moral standards.  We see it emerge from our hearts in our love for others, not our manipulation of them.  We cannot divorce straight thinking (where all our actions begin) from honesty and truth.

Leaders Who Lie and Deceive

An increasing number of the world’s cultures today snub truth and force it to kiss the ring on the hands of political leaders who traffic in lies and deceitfulness.  We and our children can get swept up in crooked representations of facts and beliefs.  That’s one of our major concerns.  Moreover, the world destroys itself and enslaves its people when it treats truth as an expendable element in what is touted as a beneficial society.

Honesty and Truthfulness Are Prerequisites to Survival

What do we do about this state of affairs?  We teach ourselves and our children that lying benefits no one.  It creates people who can no longer be trusted.  Additionally, teach that being honest and truthful is the mark of courage and strength.  And finally, we must teach not with angry attacks on our child’s or our own selves, but with patient and loving care, coupled with the insistence that we must face the consequences of our actions.

Therefore, ask, “What consequences do you want to live with?  And how do you want people to describe you — as an honest person to be trusted or a liar?”  Ask yourself, “Am I courageous and strong — a straight thinker or a crooked liar and weak?

In my new book Who Am I?, I describe how we have become “crooked thinkers” and how to break out of this prison of the mind to become instruments of change for a better world by recognizing the source of our value as humans.  You can get your copy HERE.  (Psst!  Subscribers to my weekly updates can receive a 15% discount and free shipping from that link!)

Lean into the whole truth by discovering the truth of who YOU are — the “Real You” — and who your children truly are.  Discover how to best engage your children in finding the whole truth.  Our team at InnerKinetics is ready to provide that help.  If you’d like some assistance, you can request a consultation and an InnerKinetics consultant will call you to answer questions and schedule your meeting. Schedule an Initial Consultation. If you are more independent and want to cut to the chase, you need not wait for a call back because you can get answers to your questions and schedule your session HERE.

The post Straight Thinking Demands Honesty and Truthfulness appeared first on RayWLincoln.com.

Meeting the requirement to tell the whole truth to ensure straight thinking is a tough task for us all.  Facts are where we tend to make our most common crooked thinking.  We misrepresent the facts — whether intentionally or unintentionally.  Therefore, the first lesson for all of us to learn is to make sure that our facts are truly facts, not simply opinions that have been repeated so often with emotional power that they become “facts” in people’s minds.  No one, no matter how educated, escapes the dangers of this damaging way of thinking.  With crooked thinking, we never find the truth.

The Whole Truth Is “Real”

And there is a second word we need to focus on if we are to be straight thinkers: real.  It is astounding that the history of human thought and human lives reveals that we so blindly appear to want to shut our eyes to the realities of life and our world.  The appearance comes from the repeated refusal for all of us to look reality in the face and call it what it is.

We can trace the word real from the ancient Sanskrit language through Latin and French to when it made its first appearance in English in 1325 AD.  Both East and West own it as an expression of what truly exists, what is genuine, and the opposite of what is merely fictitious or imagined.  Things like rocks, love, and truth truly exist and are real things.  Facts are what is real.  Opinions, on the other hand, can be nothing but the inaccurate creations of a misinformed mind.

The Whole Truth Must Also Include All the Facts

To speak accurately means telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth about all the facts, not just some of the facts.  The WHOLE truth is the required language of the courts for sound reason.

Sophistry is the skill of creating a clever, but misleading, argument, and it is all too often the way we and our children talk and think.  Not surprisingly, sophistry first appears in the Greek language meaning “wise” and all who use this deceptive way of speaking think themselves wise.  It is “twisted wisdom” if the two words can coexist without fighting each other.  Arguments that have the ring of truth but are in reality misleading are the stock in trade of modern-day sophists.  Don’t be seen as a sophist by your children.  Teach them to think straight by using the wisdom of truth, not the sophistry of dressed-up lies.

Truth Is Not Speculation, Fantasy, or Imagination

Don’t build a case on speculation, fantasy, or imagination and pass it off as truth.  Yes, this is going to challenge all of us, parents included.  Have all of us adults not noticed that children quickly learn to be sophists, speakers of clever falsehoods.  We and they must learn to speak the unadulterated truth.

“Set a watch, oh Lord, at the door of my lips,” requested the psalmist.  Such watchfulness on our part is the only way to stop crooked thinking before it infects others.  We must teach ourselves and others, to examine our thoughts before we fire the loose cannon of crooked thinking.

Parent, when you fail at this, point out your error to your child.  Holding yourself accountable becomes a powerful example of straight thinking and honest parenting.

In my new book Who Am I?, I describe how we have become “crooked thinkers” and how to break out of this prison of the mind to become instruments of change for a better world by recognizing the source of our value as humans.  You can get your copy HERE.  (Psst!  Subscribers to my weekly updates can receive a 15% discount and free shipping from that link!)

Lean into the whole truth by discovering the truth of who YOU are — the “Real You” — and who your children truly are.  Discover how to best engage your children in finding the whole truth.  Our team at InnerKinetics is ready to provide that help.  If you’d like some assistance, you can request a consultation and an InnerKinetics consultant will call you to answer questions and schedule your meeting. Schedule an Initial Consultation. If you are more independent and want to cut to the chase, you need not wait for a call back because you can get answers to your questions and schedule your session HERE.

The post “Straight” Thinking Tells the Whole Truth appeared first on RayWLincoln.com.

These articles will now change in nature somewhat.  My new book (proposed release date in late April of 2021) is titled Who Am I?  We are what we think.  So, the book and these articles will feature tools for adults and children to develop their minds and solid education of how our culture is deliberately molding our minds in self-damaging ways. Additionally, it will offer help to talk effectively to all people, especially our children. We will learn straight thinking versus crooked thinking so that our minds will not be taken captive by twisted and false thinking, which leads to damaging beliefs.  

Our beliefs are very important for our children and us because our beliefs are the filters that play a large part in molding our lives. YOUR MIND IS YOUR MOST PRECIOUS GIFT. Therefore, we will engage its powers as we understand ourselves better.

Our Culture Does Not Teach Straight Thinking

Our culture is teaching all of us a false understanding of our worth as human creatures. For instance, it is attacking what our self-image was designed to be built on and teaching us a way of thinking that is, to say the least, deceptive and false. Postmodernism and a materialistic understanding of who we are as individuals deceptively change our culture in ways most people don’t even detect. (They along with other baggage of beliefs are taught popularly in our educational system).  Maybe many of our beliefs have been absorbed by osmosis. That’s what culture does to us.

Your Mind — Your Greatest Treasure

Your mind is your greatest treasure — even more important than your body. In fact, it controls your body. “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” However, learning how to think correctly is typically not taught through early grades or even in university education. For the adult, Who Am I? and the articles that lie ahead will be an education in straight and crooked thinking and the wiles of the changing culture.

Want to be a straight and successful thinker? Want your children’s minds to learn to think straight in our culture and become strong? Then follow as we explore how our world got to where it is and what is the great battleground of the future.  

The Parent’s Mission

For the parent, your mission will be to train your child’s mind so that their greatest treasure is not taken captive and twisted with crooked thinking and false, damaging ideas. They probably are already thinking in ways that are deliberately designed to lead them astray. However, the educational system will not help. Certainly, you are in the seat that can offer them the needed help to sound and truly educated ways of thinking.  

Let Straight Thinking Mold Your Beliefs

We all are going to believe something. Your beliefs (your faith) will guide your life and your decisions. Therefore, think straight.

Are intelligent beliefs guiding your decisions? We will find out if they pass the muster of straight thinking.

Next time, we will dig into an examination of straight thinking versus crooked thinking.

We won’t forget the power of understanding our temperaments and InnerKinetics— I promise — as they interface constantly.

In my new book Who Am I?, I describe how we have become “crooked thinkers” and how to break out of this prison of the mind to become instruments of change for a better world by recognizing the source of our value as humans.  You can get your copy HERE.  (Psst!  Subscribers to my weekly updates can receive a 15% discount and free shipping from that link!)

Lean into the whole truth by discovering the truth of who YOU are — the “Real You” — and who your children truly are.  Discover how to best engage your children in finding the whole truth.  Our team at InnerKinetics is ready to provide that help.  If you’d like some assistance, you can request a consultation and an InnerKinetics consultant will call you to answer questions and schedule your meeting. Schedule an Initial Consultation. If you are more independent and want to cut to the chase, you need not wait for a call back because you can get answers to your questions and schedule your session HERE.

The post What Is Straight Thinking? — Introductory Thoughts appeared first on RayWLincoln.com.

When you and your partner are in a situation of conflict, has it ever seemed to you that the person you are married to is not the person you were attracted to initially?  That’s not uncommon, but there is a reason for it, and there is a path to prevent escalating the conflict, achieve a solution, and to avoid such problems in the future.  A well-placed first step is straight thinking.  Take a look at this:

“You’re not the person I married!” he yelled.  “You used to take it — the pressure I mean.  You’re home all day and all you have to do is look after the kids and do the laundry, and every night when I come home, you’re always upset, crying, and angry and the house is a mess and kids are out of control.  Look!  You haven’t even cleaned up the kitchen.”

He did it — one, two, three, four times!  Can’t he think straight?  He begins his sentences four times with you or you’re.  Well, I have to admit it: we all do it when we are not thinking straight. But such thinking escalates the conflict.

When I was only 18, I read a book — Straight and Crooked Thinking, by R. H. Thouless — and the phrase “straight and crooked thinking” has never left my mind.  I’m thankful for that.  I have needed its reminder.  Let’s see how many crooked thoughts the man had in the paragraph above:

1. Starting his sentences with “you” instead of “I.”  He thinks that attacking is the way to change people.  How crooked is that?  Always start with “I.”  It will save a lot of emotional heat.
2. Yelling raises the emotions of both people.  When have high emotional levels been the best conditions for clear thinking?  Keep the volume down!
3. He generalizes when his generalizations are untrue:  “…all you have to do…, always…”  Maybe most of the time at worst, but not all or always.  We generalize because it makes our arguments seem stronger when, in fact, it opens up holes in them.  More accuracy, please!
4. He falsely interprets the facts.  It’s harder to control and raise the most complex organism in the universe (a child) than to manage a multi-million dollar business or be a rocket scientist.  If you don’t believe that, you’re off your rocker.
5. Since when is crying and anger irrefutable evidence of personality change?  It is an indication that something needs to change — for everyone’s benefit.

Well, that’s enough.  Don’t you think this man needs help?  His thinking is tortured by misunderstanding and emotional abuse.  Perhaps one day he will learn to think straight.

The best next step to heal a relationship in crisis is to learn to understand each other: why he thinks the way he does, why she does the things she does, etc.  It involves more than just “communication.”

INNERKINETICS, Your Blueprint to Excellence and Happiness a great resource to set you on the road to understanding that can help you develop the relationship you dreamed of when you first became attracted to each other.  Understanding ourselves and our partners provides the biggest advantage to developing a long-lasting and mutually satisfying relationship.

The post Two Conflict Conquerers: Think Straight and Understand appeared first on RayWLincoln.com.