Thinking for Oneself

Today I was reading Seth Godin's Blog. There is
a thought FULL man if there ever was one.

He was talking about a willful type of ignorance
that is fostered by the current media environment
that would seem to discourage people from thinking
for themselves. It would seem sometimes easier
to have someone else decide what is best.

Now, of course we can't all be experts in all
things, but it would seem to me that thinking
for one's self is something that would make sense,
even if it was at times time consuming or
confrontational.

Experts will say they know what's what. However,
I found it interesting that Niels Henrik David Bohr
says that an expert is someone "who has made all
the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field."

How does one know when that occurs? I'd be willing
to bet there are people who call themselves experts
who haven't yet made every conceivable mistake,
which means that there may be people who would be
on the receiving end of an incorrect presumption.

In the current culture, "experts" are a dime a dozen.
So-called experts you will find will also disagree
on the points of one's study and profession. How
does one know that the advice they are being given
is as golden as the expert would like you to believe
it to be?

You don't.

And that is why it is important for us to pay attention
and ask questions and learn and grow and explore,
constantly. There is an endless amount of information
"out there" and it won't always be easy to tell which
piece is the "correct" one cognitively.

But asking questions is a good place to start, and
having "gut" checks is another method for decision
making. The more we tune into our gut and use it, and
the more information that we cull from, the more likely
we are to know what course of direction is the best
one to take.

Despite an expert's best intention, it may be prudent
to add, the expert is human, and human beings tend to
have times when they are fallible and will make
mistakes. Sometimes we won't know better to prevent
it, but there will be other times that we might just
be able to do or say the right thing to save further
difficulty or heartache - if - we are willing to
question the person doing the talking. And that will
mean we'll have to do some of the thinking for ourself.
As powerful as it can be to think for oneself, I hope
it's not as unique as some would think it to be,
and that it doesn't hurt too much for those that do it.
:P

(Sorry, the smart ass in me has to come out sometimes).