awKWaRd veRB

Think.

I believe this is an appropriate verb to start our journey with. But before we begin, it is necessary that we come to an agreement as to the meaning of the word. I suggest the following definition:

“… Thinking is a mental process which allows beings to model the world, and so to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and desires. Words referring to similar concepts and processes include cognition, sentience, consciousness, idea, and imagination.” – en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think. A more crude definition is “to use the brain” but I much prefer the latter meaning.

From this definition we can see that thinking is essential to human life and is a necessary and appropriate activity in which we should be regularly engaged since without thinking we are not able to effectively achieve our desires. I submit that the word, as defined above, is its proper and correct meaning and should be rescued from the gutter to which it has been placed by everyday uninformed usage.

So what is my issue with the word think? My concern is that too many people either refuse to or have forgotten how to think.

Thinking is both an active and reflective exercise. It is active in the sense that it is a means of achieving an end and it also reflective because we must consider what it is we wish to achieve before we set about achieving it. Take as an example someone watching a commercial for a car on television; the commercial grabs their attention but they do not rush out right then and buy the car. No, they first think … ‘I want this car because it looks good, and it would make my commute to work easier but I might not be able to afford it right now’. Of course the substance of thought will differ with each individual as we are all conditioned to varying degrees by culture and our unique societal and community values. But the faculty of thought and the act of thinking remain the same.

Thinking involves considering the utility of a thing or an action by applying rational and reflective thought (a process of receiving, discerning and judgement). Some may argue that this is not ‘thinking’ per se, but ‘critical thinking’; however I must disagree and submit that we do this type of rational reflective thinking everyday without even realising it. We need not embark on a difficult task of detailing our goals and the steps we should take towards them; instead thinking oftentimes acts as a reflex action and we can be said to ‘think without thinking’. Most people, if they are human, have this capacity; it is less developed in some and more developed in others while the majority of us fall somewhere in the middle.

So where have we gotten this far:

1. Thinking is an active and reflective exercise involving discernment and judgement,
2. Which allows humans to effectively model the world and realise their goals,
3. And all humans possess this ability.

And why have I even bothered to begin with this verb you may ask? Why because it is an awkward verb in the sense that it is inconvenient to most people. Most of us are averse to thinking, becloud or thinking or refuse to act on what we have thought. This has led us to undesirable consequences both for the individual and those around him. This situation is greatly magnified when the ones who refuse to think are those who wield socio-political or economic power. A cursory look at any popular media outlet will prove the truth of this statement.

As the definition says, thinking allows us to mould our world, it therefore follows that a failure to think leaves the world up to chance and accident, the whims of those who do not think and worse yet the whiles of those who put their thinking to diabolical purposes. The atrocities of slavery and the slave trade of the holocaust and the World Wars were the result of meticulous thinking so I urge you not only to think, but to think according to what is fair to all parties as dictated by reason and conscience.

In conclusion, I invite you to think when reading awkwardverb.wordpress.com. Please read with an open mind, consider what is written, compare it to what you have decided to be true and then form an opinion – you can do it, that is if you are a human. Do not come to the page with rigid opinions and then consider the extent to which what is written corresponds with them. Your opinions as well as well as mine may be wrong. What I would like is that we bring together our minds to see how we can form a better opinion from our collective thinking.

In the spirit of Descartes Cogito, ergo sum.

Awkward Verb

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