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On the Mental Processes of (Popular?) Thinking

Most of us believe critically thinking about things is good. Most of the people I hang with know they don't just do what they feel like doing.

Education and learning happen by levels and degrees--first grade, then second, Algebra I, then II, etc. Your thinking skills can graduate to a more critical thinking level as you add different knowledge bases to it--an understanding of Science can add to your ability in being an Accountant or Pastor.

A video entitled "Ed Schultz Yells at guest Ryan Anderson, then cuts his mic" made me think of the following comparison when it comes to how some people think.

Let me use gears as a metaphor for thinking. Getting our gears turning is like using the energy necessary for thinking. Some people think egg beaters and others like watches.

Both ways of thinking are viable forms for accomplishing what they were created for. Keeping time is much more of an intricate process than beating eggs. An egg beater has two gears intertwined to spin with the force of manual labor.  Two to three gears get the job done. Beating eggs is a simple process. So a simple construct for a simple job. Right?

A timepiece is different. Keeping time as a constant and a consistent activity took a Master to make ...no, not make--engineer. To be sure, an egg-beater must fit in the average hand, and so must a timepiece. A timepiece could use a battery, or it could be wound because of a crafted spring. or it could even be self-wound. I remember receiving such a timepiece as a present when I was quite young. Tilting it every so often made sure the spring was wound and the timepiece would keep accurate time.

Have you ever taken a timepiece apart? I know for a fact if you do it haphazardly the smallest pieces can go everywhere. There are so many pieces. Some parts have more than one gear on them that touch other gears that do things I am not aware of ... all inside of the object I can hold in my hand just as I do an eggbeater.

I have had to fix an egg-beater, as I do our mechanized ice cream scoop, which also has a gear. It is a simple fix really. After my experience with the timepiece and taking it apart, I realized that someone more skilled and educated in timepieces must fix what no longer worked. I could not do it. Someone else needed to fix it.

I couldn't. Not yet anyway. If I became trained, after some time, I think I could.

Some people are resolved to think with an eggbeater geared brain. Others not so much.

Some have actually taken the time to train their brains to think deeper, better, more effectively and efficiently--and can arrive at conclusions and problem-solve their way to concur problems while others are still getting up out of bed to make breakfast. 

God has given me a brain that (like a bicep) can be developed and strengthened. It is up to you to decide if Schultz and Anderson have any gears and how many.

And me too.

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