Your knee-jerk response to my title question reveals a lot about you…even if you lied to yourself. Some “think” with their television remotes or youtube search bars. They scan, select, watch, and listen for popular voices to tell them what to believe, unquestioningly adopt what they hear, and call this thinking for themselves. The intellectually lazy prefer the false security that comes from drinking the kool-aid of their current tribe. What about you? Do you prefer to be told what to think, or how to think?

”Philosophy is an unusually stubborn attempt to think clearly.”

~ William James

Not all have the unusual stubbornness required of philosophers. Therefore, not thinking clearly, they consign their beliefs and views to a supposed authority. These cannot even think for themselves enough to defend their views, but will point to the words and opinions of their chosen spokesperson.

”Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”

~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet

I hold the above to be categorically, undeniably, terrifyingly true. 

Certainty is a nice, cup-of-hot-chocolate illusion. It is temporarily pleasing and satisfying. But it is easily and quickly consumed.

In a world of uncertainty, where guesses matter and context is everything, knowing how to think is of more worth to me than being told what to think. But I’m not telling you what to think. I trust you to decide for yourself. Once you have, just be able to tell us how you came to your conclusions.