Learn to use words, thoughts well

"You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb it himself." - Andrew Carnegie

March 9, 2011
Written by A. Gaffar Peang-Meth
PACIFIC DAILY NEWS

I write often that a thesis and antithesis come as a pair, they interact. Given time, a synthesis would result; this gives rise to a new thesis and new antitheses, similar to the two interdependent energies, the "yin" and the "yang," energies that cannot exist without one another as their interactions cause everything to happen.

Buddhists believe when there's life, there's death; when there's happiness, there's suffering. Thus night follows day and day follows night; happiness follows suffering; after death, there is rebirth. The Samsara wheel of life turns and turns. What goes around comes around.

Thesis-antithesis, yin-yang interactions can bring tension and conflict. People have different opinions, perceptions, beliefs. Disagreement is natural.

Disputes can be avoided by giving some space to humility -- consideration of others' views and feelings which is the foundation of many virtues -- and avoiding hotheaded, disagreeable reactions.

In my teaching career, I used the concept of individual actions influenced by experiences-values-beliefs-information; I taught students to reach for high principles and apply them.

Choosing words

It's been my own experience that bloggers who hide behind anonymous postings, spewing venomous comments on the Internet, operate from misconceptions and misunderstandings. In my article last week, I quoted workshop facilitator Leslie Aguilar's call to pay attention to our words and behavior, because, more than being politically correct, it's about being professionally competent and politically conscious, it's about being human: "It's about respect."

Today, I found The Leadership and Learning Center's professional development associate Stephen Ventura's "Basic Training" in "RESPECT" worthy to learn: R is to recognize every human being's inherent worth; E, to eliminate derogatory words and phrases from our vocabulary; S is to speak with, and not at, or about, people; P is to practice empathy through walking in others' shoes for a while; E is to earn respect through respect-worthy behaviors; C is to consider others' feelings before speaking and behaving; and T is to treat every person with dignity and courtesy.

Some 2,500 years ago, Lord Gautama Buddha preached: "Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care, for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill."

And the great Chinese thinker, Confucius, taught, "Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?"

Critical thinking

Some readers thought that it is mere cliché that I referenced so often the terms "critical thinking" in my writings. No, it is not cliché.

Critical thinking does not only determine our future, but it is essential for humanity's survival. Yes, every person thinks and has opinion but, no, not every thinking is of the same quality. An opinion that is fleeting is not the same as a careful thought.

Buddha's precepts -- "We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think" and "What we think, we become" -- taught us that if we engage endlessly in negative thoughts of others, gossiping and throwing venomous words, we are not only creating a hostile angry world, but we become the image of what we think.

And since we are creatures of habit and of self-piloted, fossilized responses, perhaps we need to better understand and follow the great critical thinker's preaching:

"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it."

Buddha, a critical thinker more than 2,000 years before the European Age of Enlightenment, taught humans to be skeptics and to accept and live up to what we find in agreement with "reason" and for "the good and benefit of one and all."

Attitudes change

Thus, I come full circle to my writings. I write to share. I write to awaken thought, even to provoke it, because a mind that accepts and obeys blindly is intellectually dead. It's of no use.

More than 2,500 years ago Lord Buddha taught humans to believe in reason and in what benefits the multitude, humanity. When will we begin our embrace of critical thinking -- creativity and criticality?

Confucius said: "If you think in terms of a year, plant a seed; if in terms of 10 years, plant trees; if in terms of 100 years, teach the people."

Yes, the Chinese say, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."

Fortunately, critical thinking can be taught and can be learned.

You should know about Andrew Carnegie, who migrated to the United States from Scotland in 1848. He first worked as a bobbin boy, changing spools of thread 12 hours a day, six days a week, in a cotton factory. He earned $1.20 per week. In his late 30s, he founded the Carnegie Steel Company, which grew to become the world's largest steel manufacturer in the 1890s.

Carnegie famously said something that should inspire all readers: "You cannot push anyone up a ladder unless he is willing to climb it himself."

A. Gaffar Peang-Meth, Ph.D., is retired from the University of Guam. Write him at peangmeth@yahoo.com.