#60 – How to be a free thinker

60-1In the same way a man can be chained to an oak tree, a mind can be chained to an assumption, a religion, a political party, or any idea of any kind. But the idea, like the tree, should not be blamed. They are inanimate things and are good or bad only in how they are used by the living. Instead it is the chain that must be questioned, along with the motivations of people who work to close minds while calling themselves educators. A mind is unique in the world for its infinity of ideas, for it can be used to think about almost anything in a million different ways. Any act that deliberately confines a mind to a singular way of seeing the world can not be acting for good. Most communities, from families, to schools, to gangs, have ideas members are expected to adopt without question. This doesn’t make them evil, but it doesn’t make them bastions of freedom either.

Like the rules to a new board game, we read these rules with our minds at half-power, as our goal is to learn and follow. Even under the guise of what we comically call education, most of us, most of the time, are taught to copy. To memorize. To understand someone elses’s theories. What are we being trained for in life by this other than to perform these same thoughtless behaviors when we graduate? And the things that are considered taboo in our societies, acts that violate our traditions, are often followed without anyone involved, from parents, to teachers, to leaders and other enforcers, understanding why. Why is being seen in underwear embarrassing, but being seen in a bathing suit is not? Why are nipples are flesh so scary, when everyone has them? Why are alcohol, nicotine and Prozac legal, but marijuana and Absinthe criminal? It’s un-free thinking, this accepting of an idea simply because someone else said so. If the reasons are so good, they should do well in debate and discussion on their merits, shouldn’t they? Nothing should be beyond discussion.

The beginning of wisdom starts with asking two questions. Why do we believe what we believe? And how we know what we know? They should be stamped on every school book, in every meeting place and in every home where independence of mind and free thinking are advocated. It should be tattooed on the forehead of anyone arrogant enough to dictate orders for others to follow. The children’s game of why, where a child says “Why?” to every answer that an adult offers, often ends with the parent embarrassing the child. “Stop being silly they say. But it’s the parent who should be embarrassed by their hubris. Why is it so uncomfortable to say “I don’t know”. Why isn’t their pride in their children learning things they don’t know?  Isn’t that the basis for progress? We all know less than we think we do, and if we wish to learn more it’s only going to come from taking comfort from questions instead of fearing them. Ignorance is not dangerous if you admit to it. Same for lack of control. It’s a fact most of what we experience in life is hard to understand and out of our control. To feel shame or joy at a fact of life is a decision we’ve forgotten is ours to make.

Without questions we can’t discover the chains we’ve hidden. Chains forced upon us as children when we did not have the will to refuse or ask questions. Chains we bound ourselves to in order to fit in to school, or work, or a community. To be a free thinker means forever seeking relief from assumptions, whether it’s those we’ve made or have been given to us, and to work towards beliefs and ideas of our own choosing. Freedom of thought means a perennial willingness to discover better ideas, smarter opinions, more worthy faiths, more honest feelings, a willingness not only to abandon ideas you’ve held dearly, but to actively seek moments of discovery, moments when you learn a closest held belief has been held for the wrong reasons. The first time I ate Ethiopian food I had to ask three times “Are you sure it’s ok to eat with my hands?”
Never having thought before that a) they are my hands b) it is my mouth, c) I’m paying for the food, and I should be able to do whatever I damn well please with all three. For all of America’s wonders of freedom, we are still tyrannized by the burdens of silverware. Then of course I went to India, and was scolded for eating with my left hand. I’m always wrong at meals it seems. Travel makes clear how arbitrary many rules and customs we defend truly are.

The first challenge is the fear of being wrong

Ready? You are wrong. You are wrong much of the time. I’m wrong too and some of what I write in this essay will be wrong (except for this sentence). Even if you are brilliant, successful, happy and loved, you are wrong and ignorant more than you realize. This is not your fault. None of our theories about the world are entirely true and this is good. If we had perfect answers for things progress would be impossible, as to believe in the idea of progress requires belief in the many ignorances of the present. Look back in time 100, 50, or even 5 years, and consider how misguided the wisest, smartest people of those days were compared with what you know now. Governments, religions, cultures and traditions all change, despite what they say, and there is not a one of them still standing that is exactly the same as it was when it started. The traditions that have remained may have value, but ask yourself: who decided what to keep and what to throw away? And why did they decide what they decided? Without knowing the answers to the questions, how can you know exactly what it is you are right and wrong about in what you believe? Especially if these traditions have been changing for 100s or 1000s of years? It’s ok to be wrong if you learn something and grow from it. In fact often there’s no way to learn without making mistakes.

In many ways you are a wiser, smarter more experienced person than you were in the past. If you believe any progress in your own thinking and understanding, especially regarding your own life and what it means to you, you must admit that the same kind of progress is possible for you in the future. And that progress is accelerated only by freeing yourself from the obligation to always be right. Instead of allegiance to a specific idea, put your faith in your ability to grow and learn. The former is a chain held in place by your own hand. The latter is a door you can hold open, a door to a better self.

The second challenge is other people

Children survive only through conformity. It’s by recognizing the behavior of adults and adjusting to it, fitting in, that they’re able to survive. If babies didn’t learn which kind of cries got them fed, or what kinds of smiles got them attention, they would not live long. We are designed from birth for survival more than freedom. Consider how absurd most advice from gurus sounds if directed at a 5 year old. Start with Buddha’s excellent advice:

“Believe nothing, no matter where you read it, or who has said it, even if I have said it, unless it agrees with your reason and your own common sense.”

This is the opposite of what children are told by every adult in their lives. Schools teach them specific answers, teachers test and judge them on their ability to memorize and internalize those answers, and parents define rules that control children’s lives in spite of the child’s clear desires. We treat children as if they have no common sense, and for good reason. Often they have no sense at all, common or otherwise. But the question remains: at what point do we teach our children to think for themselves? And how can we be certain they’ve unlearned the lessons we worked so hard to teach them until that day? There are no required college courses called “undoing the damage of the last 18 years of your life” or “how to escape the evil tyranny of your corrupted youth”. We are, perhaps as it always has been or always should be, on our own to figure out what freedom means. But there is no starting gun, no wake up call, for when to become free, much less how to go about doing it given how much of our lives function on our being unfree.

Joining a “Free thinking” group can be nothing of the kind, especially if everyone in the group shares the same brand of atheism, deism, or anything-ism. Freedom grows best in diversity. The more ideas you hear, understand and compare, the greater the odds you’ll think freely about all of them. This can’t happen if you mostly spend time “philosophizing” with people who share 97% of your philosophy. Instead you’re likely just sharpening your prejudices. Sharpening prejudices can be fun. I do it all the time. But it’s not thinking, free or otherwise, and it’s not good philosophy either.

The third challenge is to be alone

Many of history’s great spiritual leaders chose to step away from their cultures and their worlds for a time. Jesus, Buddha, Moses and Muhammad all took long retreats away from everything they knew, freeing themselves from conventions and commitments of normal life. Only then were the able to discover, to transform, to learn and understand themselves in ways that changed the world. They had to separate from the chains and bonds before they could be free, and only then, with new perspective and priorities, did they choose to return. For anyone who knew them, I doubt this choice was popular. Their children, friends, landlords, and tennis partners were less than thrilled about the prospect of them wandering off the face of the earth for 40 days, or 6 months, or however long they chose. They say the fish is the last to see the water. But what if the fish could step out of the tank now and then? You are not a fish. You can take that step whenever you like.

This begs the question, when was the last time you were free from others? The last day you spent alone and let all the thoughts you bury and hide in everyday life rise in your mind? Travel, meditation, long baths, a run in the woods, are all ways to give ourselves a taste of the solitude needed to think freely. Needed to understand ourselves and feel who we actually are. How can you know how much of what you think you want, and think you need is really coming from you? It may be that our truest, freest voice, the voice we call our heart of hearts, is always talking, but it’s quiet and timid and can’t be heard over the chatter of everyday life. Unless we make quiet time to learn how to hear it. And of course, we’re still free to ignore that voice, but at least we’ve given ourselves a chance to listen. Only then is it possible to sort through our lives to strengthen the connections with others who truly share our feelings and thoughts about life. Being free has never been easy, which explains why so few, despite what they say, truly are themselves.

By Scott Berkun, January 26, 2009

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59 Responses

  • Richard - January 26, 2009 at 2:08 pm #

  • Nicely done. Not your usual fare, but something I enjoyed nonetheless.


  • Drew Kime - January 26, 2009 at 2:28 pm #

  • “Look back in time 100, 50, or even 5 years, and consider how misguided the wisest, smartest people of those days were compared with what you know now.”

    This reminds me of a quote I’ve had on my hard drive for so long I can’t remember where I got it:

    “Remember, people in 1900 didn’t know what an atom was. They didn’t know its structure.

    They also didn’t know what a radio was, or an airport, or a movie, or a television, or a computer, or a cell phone, or a jet, an antibiotic, a rocket, a satellite, an MRI, ICU, IUD, IBM, IRA, ERA, EEG, EPA, IRS, DOD, PCP, HTML, internet. interferon, instant replay, remote sensing, remote control, speed dialing, gene therapy, gene splicing, genes, spot welding, heat-seeking, bipolar, prozac, leotards, lap dancing, email, tape recorder, CDs, airbags, plastic explosive, plastic, robots, cars, liposuction, transduction, superconduction, dish antennas, step aerobics, smoothies, twelve-step, ultrasound, nylon, rayon, teflon, fiber optics, carpal tunnel, laser surgery, laparoscopy, corneal transplant, kidney transplant, AIDS… None of this would have meant anything to a person in the year 1900. They wouldn’t know what you are talking about.”

    This, I think, is the *fourth* challenge: The tyranny of data. There are just so damn man *facts* to learn before you can even decide what you think about them.

    Before the printing press you had to travel the world — or have world travelers come to you — to understand the scope of how much you didn’t know. Today all you have to do is go to Google. See all those links past the second page? That’s all the stuff you don’t know.

    You could spend a lifetime learning facts without ever having to think about them. Learn enough of them and not only does it start to *feel* like thinking, eventually it even *looks* like thinking.


  • Sean Crawford - January 26, 2009 at 8:03 pm #

  • The 1900 quote is from Michael Crichton’s speech on complexity theory, where he uses yellowstone park as an example of what not to do, on his official web site, http://www.michaelcrichton.com He argues that we should have the humility to cope, not control, and that this requires that we not embrace fear. I have his site bookmarked to return to again and again.


  • John McSwain - January 26, 2009 at 8:39 pm #

  • I’m currently a graduate student in an HCI (human computer interaction) and I was shocked at how most of my coursework consisted of citing other sources and not much pressure was put on me to ‘create’ new ideas. When I asked a classmate why so much of our class workload was centered on reciting research conducted by other people, the reply was ‘Why are you complaining?’

    My question is, how does one help those who don’t even see the tree?


  • Morgan Cheng - January 26, 2009 at 8:57 pm #

  • “Freedom grows best in diversity. The more ideas you hear, understand and compare, the greater the odds you’ll think freely about all of them.”

    That’s true. On the one side, you need multiple perspectives on the world; on the other side, you have to spent some time backing off to be think alone.


  • Josh Leeger - January 26, 2009 at 9:00 pm #

  • Hi Scott,

    I love your post, you hit the nail on the head. I just wanted to let you know how my father taught my sister and I to be free-thinkers as children.

    Whenever we had a question – whether it be how to spell a word, why the sky is blue, or anything else – my father would always reply with the same answer – “Why do YOU think it’s…” or “How would YOU spell ___.”

    He used the Socratic Method on us. He taught us to ask “Why” about everything.


  • David - January 26, 2009 at 11:55 pm #

  • It’s worth pointing out that often those chains are needed initially as “scaffolding” to build a knowledge base that allows us to ask better questions. Where things can go awry is to mistake the scaffolding for the “truth”, as Mr. McSwain implies missing the forest for the trees (or perhaps the pine needles). More than just critical thinking, it also takes a genuine curiousity about how and why things are the way they are to start letting go of those chains.


  • Scott - January 27, 2009 at 2:49 am #

  • Drew: Good point. The one I always remember is DNA. Discovered in the 1940s I believe. Prior to then we didn’t have a clue about genetics, evolution and Darwinism were sketches, diseases were confusing to understand, etc. It was a huge turning point in the laypersons understanding of how human beings work.

    The tyranny of data is a good theme – David Shenk wrote an excellent book years ago called Data smog that was largely about this, and that was pre-google.

    The tricky question is whether google and instant access helps people think freely, hurts it, or is a wash. It’s all too easy to find one answer and accept it as the only one. But then again, people asked the same questions about dictionaries and encyclopedias. I’m more inclined to think the focus should be on the minds than on the tools.


  • Scott - January 27, 2009 at 2:53 am #

  • John: Great question, but that’s another essay :) Most people find questions annoying. Socrates was more or less killed for asking too many questions, and that was in Athens!

    David’s comments are on the money. The folks designing the program believe you need more scaffolding before you ask questions. Maybe you do and maybe you don’t – it’s a reasonable question to ask. I’d want my money back from any university or professor who was annoyed by my asking questions about the design of my education. I’d worry less about classmates and more about those at the front of the room.

    Also some HCI programs are heavier into usability and analysis than design and creativity, which might explain the more academic/researchy bias. Follow up w/me in email if you want to chat more about this.


  • Anne - January 27, 2009 at 6:50 am #

  • Nicely done, Scott. UX design advocates for our shared humanity (although we never put it in those terms to clients, who need more “professional” jargon). This kind of thinking is frequently at the back of my mind as I work toward solutions… clients are surprised when I say: “Tell me where I went wrong in my design so we can make the concept better.” It’s humbling but powerful philosophy that, if adopted more in the business world, would really make our work more fun and productive.


  • Steven Levy - January 29, 2009 at 3:11 pm #

  • Great essay, Scott. I agree with almost all of it.

    However, I worry that Buddha’s advice can as a side effect hurl people into the same camps free-think-all-the-same echo chambers: “Believe nothing… unless it agrees with your reason and your own common sense.”

    Some examples:
    – Many of Columbus’s compatriots thought he was nuts about sailing west to go east. Scientists since the Greeks — and most sailors — knew the world was round, but that was intellectual; common sense said it was flat.
    – 18 months ago reason and common sense strongly suggested no black man could win the US presidency.

    Somewhere I believe there is a knife that can slice the fat of old-thinking from the meat of reality, but I don’t think that knife is found in Buddha’s suggestion.


  • Scott - January 30, 2009 at 11:14 am #

  • Steve I see your point. I read the quote differently. I take his mention of “your own common sense” as meaning my own personal intuition, and not the common sense of other people. Perhaps that’s me stuffing things in the passage (I’ll have to find the source and see if it’s context explains better what he meant), but I’ve always read this passage as being an admonition for following people blindly.

    I also like Buddha’s advice here for a bunch of side reasons. It’s one of the few cases of a leader, spirtual/religious or otherwise, who says effectively “you must think for yourself and not follow my prescriptions”. He told his followers this on various occasions and that he did not want to see a religion / school / system based on his teachings.

    The irony of course is that this didn’t stop his followers, after his death, from doing exactly that. There were various flavors of Buddhism and some were quite restrictive and regulatory in ways Buddha clearly was against.


  • Richard Atkins - January 31, 2009 at 12:44 am #

  • I see one of the rules you’ve chosen to free yourself from is the pairing of the words “former” and “latter”. I don’t know why this bugs me so much… Maybe something to do with my education ;)

    How would you relate this total freedom with the observations that people tend to be more creative when they have restrictions on what they do?

    On another tangent, even in societies like ours dominated by the assumption of choice, we still wind up with only 2 or 3 big competitors for each type of item we’re willing to buy or spend time on. Is there really any freedom of choice here at all?


  • Alexandre de Oliveira - February 1, 2009 at 8:11 pm #

  • “Being free has never been easy, which explains why so few, despite what they say, truly are themselves.”

    Words of wisdom these are.


  • Rishi - February 2, 2009 at 11:54 am #

  • Nice essay Scott.

    I was interested in the two questions you posed “why do we believe in what we believe” & “how do we know what we know”

    Here’s an analysis of Mary Douglas’s cultural theory that goes a long way in answering those two.
    http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/printarticle.php?id=9600


  • Frank - February 2, 2009 at 8:00 pm #

  • I hate that I totally agree with this essay, because it means I learned nothing from it besides that at least one other person had my exact same thoughts, and is much better at putting these thoughts to words than I. =)

    nice essay.


  • Laurie - February 4, 2009 at 7:51 am #

  • I am going to share this with everyone I know, even “those who don’t even see the tree”. If they connect with even one idea in this essay, it was worth it.


  • Bob - February 19, 2009 at 7:19 am #

  • “Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocrities. The latter cannot understand it when a man does not thoughtlessly submit to hereditary prejudices but honestly and courageously uses his intelligence.” – Albert Einstein


  • Arapajoe - February 20, 2009 at 9:32 am #

  • Great essay! I loved it!
    As it has been said before, my thoughts are very alike :)


  • Sunnymama - February 22, 2009 at 11:31 am #

  • This is a great essay, lots of stuff to think about. I would like to suggest though that we consider if it is possible that as adults we are wrong in our belief that children have little or no sense. The Taking Children Seriously parenting and educational philosophy (which is designed around error correction) has some interesting ideas about fallibility and the possibility that as adults we may be wrong and the child may be right. I think these are important issues to consider if we want to raise free-thinkers.
    http://www.takingchildrenseriously.com/introductory_articles_on_TCS


  • PenPenPoems - February 22, 2009 at 8:08 pm #

  • Intro:

    A Reminder To The FreeThinker
    To avoid being Jailed by his own beliefs?

    The Last War For The FreeThinkers— From The Collection of Poems By Pen Pen

    A Poem Of Inspiration…
    To Free The Human Race From The Bondage Of Radical Beliefs!

    “Is Not The Person… It Is What Jails The Person…
    That We Must Liberate A Soul!”
    “In the far future, the real freethinkers, shall be left
    as the last defense!
    The Last Guardian Of Truth!”
    —pen pen


  • momo - March 6, 2009 at 9:56 pm #

  • Agreed. Just my thoughts. Thanks for putting this out there for everyone, and wording it so well.

    I also agree with Sunnymama. I’m not a mother myself, but I’ve been around many kids, and they’re just great (and I don’t even want any of my own!). It’s irritating that adults think they’re right just because they’re adults and “have had more experience.” I talk how I normally talk with kids (excluding some things, like swearing, because it’s just vulgar and rude) and I LISTEN to kids, and so most kids like me. Kids are human. Kids are intelligent too. Kids aren’t just those things you can brainwash to spread what YOU believe. They don’t need your fear and misguided thoughts to be drilled into their heads; they have brains, thoughts, and feelings of their own, and they should be taken seriously and let to go with who they really are, not who you want them to be.

    Thanks, Sunnymama, for the link; I’m going to go look it over.

    …Sorry for the slight rant. Nice article, Scott.


  • Lark - March 21, 2009 at 12:49 am #

  • I find it interesting that no one has pointed out that, really, telling someone how to think for themself is a bit of a contradiction, is it not? Even if you’re giving suggestions or tips, it’s still influencing the way they think so they aren’t truly thinking for themself.

    Just something to chew on. :)


  • Scott - March 22, 2009 at 1:31 am #

  • Lark: Valid point.

    The wacko extremely purest argument would say that no one can truly think for themselves, since we develop our thoughts and brains through interactions with other people, learn language only from other people, etc. Take a child, or a person, and put them in solitary confinement forever and they won’t be doing much thinking, certainly not for long.

    I’d just say anyone who uses that Buddha quote, or other concepts of self-exploration, helps people think freely more than it hurts.


  • Scott - March 22, 2009 at 1:32 am #

  • Also reminds me of that King Missile quote “I want to be different, just like everyone else”


  • Connie - May 2, 2009 at 1:59 am #

  • I am new to your world, Scott. In a manner of speaking you could say I was born yesterday, though over 50 years have past. I read your essay on being a free thinker and I wondered if truly there was such a thing. Its debatable.

    We are products of our time, our upbring, our environment and all that touch our lives. So, are we a free thinker? I suppose that depends how we view it ourselves. If you believe you are a ‘free thinking’ then, you are. Although, in reality manythoughts and ideas were put into your head from the moment of birth. We are all free to think, not always free to act.

    What I really wanted to mention was your quote of King Missile, “I want to be different, just like everyone else.” It, too, was new to me. I thought…Yes! Just as quickly I had a second thought…No, I couldn’t be. Then, I am not sure. LOL.

    I never wanted to be different, I wanted to ‘fit in’. I never felt there was a place for me. There was no niche for me to fit into, so I always felt different. Odd. Out-of-place. Even more recently.

    But, as time went on, I realized that I am different. It were the others who fit with each others. I was not like those that I knew, I was….a daisy growing among the roses.

    What is so wrong with that, I ask these days. Roses are praised but they lose their petals rather quickly, whereas a daisy waves happily in the breeze and can whether a storm.

    I come to realize that a daisy is not a bad thing to be. It is a wonder, a joy, and sometimes being different fits in just fine.

    What I discovered was the reason I never ‘fit in,’ it due to the fact that I am a free thinker. Even in my little world, that can create problems. For the roses do not take kindly to the daisies of this world.


  • rattle snake - June 15, 2009 at 2:18 pm #

  • Follow these rules in order to be a Free Thinker


  • Thomas - June 20, 2009 at 5:15 am #

  • 45 years ago when I was say about 8 years old, this thought went through my mind. “The world makes perfect sense to me.” Notice, there is no mention of people or society. I like to say; “In a sense we, each one of us, is (a semi perfect) mirror representation of one, to another. It is only natural that we should presume to benefit from say the (a priori-)knowledge and understanding of others. I am a being, a semi autonomous spirit! I strive to maintain my being while cultivating a fuller understanding of existence in terms of my proper physical and intellectual orientation to a world in which I find myself. Times up, I have to go. Thanks Scott for your insights, and everyone’s input.


  • David Sange - October 31, 2009 at 5:45 pm #

  • The other side of the fear of being wrong is what a great relief it is to discover that you are wrong about something, That means that you now see clearly, you are freed from your misconceptions, like suddenly not having a crook in your neck and now being able to move freely.

    Whenever you discover you have been wring about something that means you have learned something and that is a step forward into the light.


  • tmacx - November 3, 2009 at 12:15 pm #

  • Clearly this fellows mind is changed to his own understanding i.e. self indulgence. Nothing new under the sun.


  • Dan - November 24, 2009 at 3:28 pm #

  • “… some of what I write in this essay will be wrong…”

    Here is one point on which I disagree: the negative view you portray of raising a child. You say “undoing the damage of the last 18 years of your life” or “how to escape the evil tyranny of your corrupted youth”. You said yourself that without being strongly guided, children could not survive. Therefore why characterize child rearing as “damage” or “corruption”?

    Instead, I think the development of a child to an adult is a fascinating phenomenon. It is a macro expression of an experience that a “free thinker” repeats endlessly throughout their life. Instead of “children first conform and then ‘undo the damage’ and learn to not conform” one could say that children are first parented, and then /learn to parent themselves./

    Actual damage is only done to children when poor parenting (primary use of guilt or shame, abuse and intimidation, etc.) is involved, because that is how they learn to parent themselves, which yields disaster unless they figure out, on their own, alternative better methods.

    The existence of a “coming of age” does not imply that whatever was before was bad. It was different, and very important in it’s own way. That’s all.


  • KaylaMag - December 9, 2009 at 12:12 pm #

  • It is interesting to know that someone else thinks this way. I have often had thoughts to this effect, myself, but haven’t said anything about them at the fear of looking crazy or insubordinate. Drew’s comment reminds me of an episode of ‘Friends,’ where Pheobe is trying to prove Ross wrong about his views on Earth’s creation and says something about how scientists used to think the atom was the smallest thing on the planet until they opened it up oe day and there was this whole mess of crap inside. lol… yes, I just went there. Anyway, I find this interesting and very well said.


  • Ricardo Patrocínio - December 13, 2009 at 4:42 pm #

  • This is what Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) calls beliefs. Your beliefs define what you are, and you can never say a belief is true or false as they are constantly changing.

    You should always try to make your beliefs coherent with your principles, otherwise you may face an internal battle that can destroy you. This often happens when you work for someone that has different principles that yours, and makes you act against your principles.

    So I could not agree more with Scott that you should constantly question your beliefs and change the ones that do not suite your purpose at that particular moment in your life.

    Another factor that is very important is that


  • John - December 23, 2009 at 6:42 pm #

  • Really enjoyed this piece. I’m reminded of something that Aristotle said:

    “It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it.”


  • Yoga - December 25, 2009 at 1:37 am #

  • This is good reading. I believe that most of the source of conformity starts with thinking that someone else who perhaps has been more successful or “respected (on an average)” is taken too seriously. I personally had these fears out of low self-esteem. Something like ” If I do this what would so and so think…” even before I plan to execute.

    I think if self-esteem is nurtured or gained from experience, it may help in being a free thinking individual but then again its a life long process.

    That said more recently, an interest and hobby kind of study in economics has also broken a lot of mental barriers of religion, nationhood, etc and make me feel more of a world citizen.


  • Betawriter - January 5, 2010 at 6:51 am #

  • Excellent writing, Scott.

    I agree in every word you say. Free thinking (in fact, thinking itself, as if it’s not free thinking, it’s not thiking, just repeating) is difficult especially because of feelings: it separates you from the group, from your contry, it makes you realize that your beloved or your leaders were (and are) probably very wrong.

    It makes you feel alone, just unlike following an established group/movement/way of life and its rules (call it politics, religion, neighbourhood, group of friends, hobby, etc…), which provides a safe, warm environment.

    Very nice point on feelings.


  • JUDE PERERA - January 19, 2010 at 8:26 am #

  • Dear Scott,
    As you already know being a free thinker is not always easy. I come from an Asian community that ridicules anyone who begs to differ. I eat using my left hand and i have been abused till no end and i know how you would have felt in India.Scott we live in dangerous times. People think they are very advanced but the question is are they really advanced? Look at the way people think, I feel sometimes that people don’t understand what they want. I’m not perfect but still I humbly believe that i think differently from many others. Further more people don’t think for themselves. They expect the thinking be done for them. Look at the self help industry. Its thriving. Why? People might be taking whatever is said in those books as the absolute truth. i believe that is dangerous.Each and every one of us is a philosopher in our own right.True liberation will only come when we understand this. Ultimately we have to decide what course of action we have to take since unfortunately it is neither said nor written. lovely article by the way!


  • kaa - January 22, 2010 at 6:47 am #

  • spot on. Agree totally.
    only one small caveat though,
    “I


  • Anirban Bhattacharya - February 11, 2010 at 12:11 am #

  • A thing can be done in many ways. Which one is to follow depends on various parameters and you need to judge the merit of each of the parameters. One who plays chess knows each of his movement in advance based on assumption of the opponents move. A free thinker always asks three questions.
    Why: Why is that?
    How: How is that?
    What: What is the other way?

    And last he judge the merits of all possible answers. He dwells upon the most prudent answer.

    One other aspect is that whatever we think and how we behave depends entirely upon our experience, our surroundings, our environment. In my opinion one other challenge is again to shed off our past, our experience.


  • Crystal Tuckett - February 11, 2010 at 7:59 pm #

  • As a student of ENG 105C who doesn’t really say much. I read this essay and found it very interesting. I also learn a huge amount of true information that can help me in the future. I always used to think that I was thinking freely, but really i wasn’t because i never really said what i wanted to and that sort of limits everything. after reading this essay I truly feel that I am going to be different, really different because I thought I was different but this just showed me that I am exactly the same.


  • Regg P. - February 13, 2010 at 5:11 pm #

  • This was brilliant. Everything in life has meaning. And how can we see the meaning if we are not free thinkers? I want to be a free thinker.
    Never believe anything because you are forced too. True freedom is YOUR point of view.


  • Artiana - February 14, 2010 at 10:35 am #

  • This article made a lot of sense. How can we be free thinkers and you are forced to do what you have been told? Every day of our lives we haven’t been free thinkers. We follow all laws and beliefs and we don’t even realize that we are not thinking freely. Thank You Scott for bringing this out to the light.


  • Travis - February 15, 2010 at 10:12 pm #

  • the relevance of truth or falsity of this information should be reached from the conclusion of independent thought. Does this make sense? what is the purpose of freedom of thought? is it necessary for what I aim to accomplish?

    is it worth learning this relevant to yourself?

    learn the basic methods, then question them and come to your own conclusions. one question at a time, perhaps.
    and if you want to be a genius, never stop questioning and stick with the important questions :P


  • Threcia - February 20, 2010 at 12:36 pm #

  • Wow i like this.This is so true about being a free thinker. It makes sense because is all you expressing things and your personal feelings in your on way and of your view without anyone forcing you. Is great to be a free thinker.


  • aenya - February 22, 2010 at 6:29 am #

  • Why do we believe what we believe? And how we know what we know? these question that the writer has asked are one we never think to ask ourselves.People don’t stop to ask themselves is this really what I want to do or am i jus doing it because e is doing it.Society makes so many rules that when we have certain wants, ideas or dreams our subconscious labels it as impossible thou most things are possible to reach.The sheep-like almost robotic way of thinking that we have confines ourselves, our minds to thinking that this is it, that there is nothing more. However this article poses otherwise, so im going to take the advice that this author had enlightned me with and take time time to myself to free my thinking.


  • Theo - February 25, 2010 at 4:24 am #

  • Great post. I also believe that free thinking is something about finding your own way, listen to everyone and take the time to find out what the truth, your truth is. Influences are surrounding us and we cannot escape from them but this is good so. Diamonds also need to be polished/influenced to show their inner glow.

    Thank you


  • Andre Ryland - April 21, 2010 at 11:35 am #

  • Dear Scott;
    All in all I liked what you wrote about a person being free. It’s how I think and live. The only cringe was a small shot at the word atheism, probably to slightly appease the religionists. Atheism is not a belief system so that was un-necessary to lump in there, but I understand why a writer feels the need to do it in this world culture.
    I am prepping for a book of my own—just one book. A way of language and vocabulary and expression for all of us who want to speak in a different way about our actuality. It’s one thing to say one is a freethinker, and then not have a vocabulary to express it, making communication so much more difficult with agodean imaginarianists. It is why so many are “returning to thence” from whence they’ve come, even after 50 years of forced thought.
    Thinking outside the books of today, seeking the new true of tomorrow.
    Andre


  • Daniel Poynter - April 26, 2010 at 11:15 am #

  • Just discovered you today Scott, and I’m glad. =)

    One of my favorite quotes (by one of my favorite writers):

    “None of us will ever accomplish anything excellent or commanding except when he listens to this whisper which is heard by him alone.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson


  • Chandan - April 30, 2010 at 4:21 am #

  • I enjoyed your post thoroughly. Sounds silly but here are a few things that are running in my mind.

    I don’t have a kid yet, but say he/she asks me why is 2+2=4, I might not have an answer to that. Or for that matter, I’m a student of violin and I’m learning Carnatic classical. I have questions like why are there rules, the way they are? And the best answer is that the father of carnatic music defined them. Now how or why did he choose that is a question I have. I only end up irritating my teachers when I ask such questions. What do you think would be the best approach to deal with such questions?


  • alex - May 14, 2010 at 10:50 pm #

  • wow. this is the first essay ive read by you, but you can bet i’ll be coming back for more.

    i find it almost magic how you manage to structure your thoughts so well… *bow*. truly great.


  • Zoom.Quiet - May 19, 2010 at 1:15 am #

  • alone is can be enjoy;
    - alone only one kinds of state, in fact should not make u feel different;
    - lonely is one kinds of feelings, and just base u choice;
    freedom thinking,is easy,and everyone can do it;
    but free outflow the mainstream is hard and need more and more skill * power;

    scott sharing some skill is weclome;

    BTW:
    - u book :”Confessions of a Public Speaker” chinese version is published:
    ??????????????? (??)
    http://book.douban.com/subject/4760725/
    - and i ‘d read first time just moment, so say great!
    + content is all truly
    + foto is funny
    + that Chinese foto i author intro. means “tired” is COOL and TRUE, for finished Us Book:
    ???Python (??)
    http://book.douban.com/subject/3884108/
    is also always feeling “tired” ;-)
    and ! that “Colophon” translated perfect,is very strong stroy!
    thanx for all;
    i ‘ll to recommend the book for every one!


  • cynthia - June 10, 2010 at 9:20 am #

  • my first laugh came at the title. “how to” be a free thinker. lol – a guide on how to live without a guide.

    however, agreed that a lot of beliefs come from cultural conventions. often, they’re based in what was socially practical at one point and have become traditions.

    i went to Greek Orthodox Easter eve with my new inlaws, and I asked them if this was a Christian practice for them. They said, “No, we do it because we’re Greek!”

    Traditions surround us with comfort. Finding our own paths and beliefs amid them is both a joy and what gives meaning to life, I think. For me, this does require periods of solitude. I’m rather shocked by how many of my friends don’t (or haven’t yet) required solitude as a personal ritual of cleansing and focusing.

    Thanks for bringing up the topic!


  • Harpreet Kaur - July 5, 2010 at 5:08 am #

  • This essay have provided me with the material which i want to read and absorb.I it is a really fantastic work.


  • David - July 7, 2010 at 1:08 pm #

  • As you are a professional speaker and writer, I was dismayed to see your article start off with a declaration that an idea (ie. a mental thought) is an inanimate THING – no it is not! And then I am invited to question a chain? I stopped reading right there. It is sloppy writing but, far worse, sloppy thinking. Nor is it to be excused by any answer of the kind, “You know what I mean” or a retort that I am being pedantic. Colourful imagery, similes and metaphors are fine – but nonsensical English never can be.


  • HENRY - August 20, 2010 at 5:21 am #

  • EVERYBODY BECOMES A FREETHINKER THEN D WORLD WII BE A BETA PLACE TO LIVE


  • keriq - September 2, 2010 at 5:06 am #

  • i’ve known a few free thinkers in my life. i would like to think i am one of them. but one thing i find consistant about all of them is they believe everyone should be free thinkers too… which is conforming to an idea. even if this idea is supposed to set our minds free to ponder the greatest questions of the universe. the problem comes when someone can’t stop thinking about these questions. then what? not such a free thinker anymore. get what i’m saying?

    I think a true free thinker doesn’t ponder or overthink things. instead they move on. often i find myself trying to figure something out. i will think about it for days. then realizing that i won’t stop thinking about it until its done seems like a rule to me. so. i allow my mind to wander in a different direction. free to think what it wants


Links to this article

  • Cult of Innovation » Blog Archive » “Open Your Eyes, Open Your Imagination” - February 24, 2010 at 8:01 am

  • [...] I’m totally aging myself here because the title of this post is from the song the Beat(en) Generation by a band called The The, which was popular for about five minutes in the 80s. While the song itself is rather more dystopian than I’m feeling these days, that particular lyric kept coming to mind while I was reading an essay from Scott Berkun, called How to Be a Free Thinker. [...]


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