By: David Weston on April 17, 2025
As I sat down to write this blog post on Shane Parrish’s New York Times Bestseller, Clear Thinking [1], I suddenly became quite fuzzy due to heavy ingestion of serious painkillers. I knew that many things were competing for my clarity of thought. I suddenly felt the urge to turn this ordinary moment into an…
By: Chad Warren on April 17, 2025
The human mind is both fantastic and flawed. It is capable of deep reason and dangerous delusion. In George Orwell’s 1984, the protagonist Winston Smith lives in a world where truth is not discovered but manufactured by the oppressive regime of Big Brother. The Party controls not just the actions of its citizens, but even…
By: Kari on April 17, 2025
“Why do I need to wear those?” I protested to my dad. I was about six years old, and he insisted I wear white tights before church. His reasoning? “They’ll help keep you warm in the subzero temperatures,” I remember scoffing—did he really think that thin layer of nylon would make a difference? Even then,…
By: Elysse Burns on April 17, 2025
What About Modern Ideologies? A few years ago, a rumor circulated that schools were placing litter boxes in bathrooms to accommodate students who identified as furries[1]. I wasn’t living in the United States at the time, so I didn’t track how it all unfolded. Whether true or not, it’s telling that public discourse was stirred…
By: Alex Mwaura on April 17, 2025
Leadership is hard work. Particularly when you think of all the factors that go into improving one’s leadership mindset, style, and approach. Jules Glanzer, in last week’s reading, indicated that “everyone is called to serve, and some are chosen to lead.”[1] The idea of “being chosen” comes with great responsibility in not only how we…
By: Graham English on April 17, 2025
This week’s reading, The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense by Gad Saad, critically examines the prevailing worldview and approach to life that the author attributes to leftist academia. Saad posits that there is an escalating crusade in society to concoct increasingly irrational departures from reason as a signal of progressive virtue.[1]…
By: Jess Bashioum on April 16, 2025
In Clear Thinking, Shane Parrish explores biological defaults that shape human behavior. The “emotion default”[1] arises when emotions overpower rational thought, a phenomenon Dr. David Rock attributes to limbic system activation reducing prefrontal cortex function.[2] The “ego default”[3] defends self-worth and social standing, often reacting defensively, aligning with Rock’s concept of status, where threats are…
By: Debbie Owen on April 16, 2025
Special assignment: Before reading The Parasitic Mind by Gad Saad, answer these questions: What do I believe about “modern ideologies”? Why do I believe what I currently do? What are my current convictions and most deeply held beliefs and understandings based upon and why? Then do an inspectional reading. How have my beliefs been affirmed…
By: Joff Williams on April 16, 2025
I was recently presented with an opportunity to define leadership from my cohort colleague, Robert. Here’s how I chose to do so: Leadership defines what today is and influences others toward what tomorrow will be. Good leadership does so while not losing one’s own soul. It’s a work in progress and open to critique. In…
By: Adam Cheney on April 16, 2025
Pre-Reading on modern Ideologies: Let me first state that I am painting with a broad stroke here regarding modern ideologies. Secondly, let me state that I am primarily looking through a Western, American lens. There are Islamic ideologies that are also growing that I do not have space to dig into. Modernism: This ideology…
By: Ryan Thorson on April 16, 2025
Reflecting on ideologies is a little bit like reflecting on water when you’re a fish. The ideologies we ascribe to are often simply a part of our everyday lives and hard to notice unless we stop and think critically about them. As I began to think about modern ideologies, I realized that even the ability…
By: Jennifer Eckert on April 16, 2025
The Parasitic Mind by Dr. Gad Saad – My Beliefs about Modern Ideologies and Why: My belief system stands at the intersection of modernity and postmodernity, shaped by a lifetime of navigating both. As a Gen Xer, I came of age during a period of cultural transition. I absorbed values from an older, more communal…
By: Betsy on April 16, 2025
This week’s cohort zoom chat made me cry because the vision of my life bubbled up in heat inside of me. I do believe that trauma recovery should change the world and is a message that is entirely about the Kingdom of God. I really enjoy our cohort Zoom chats and the contributions everyone brings.…
By: Shela Sullivan on April 16, 2025
Introduction The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense [1]by Gad Saad refers to the idea that certain harmful and irrational beliefs, which he calls “idea pathogens,”[2] can infect the human mind much like biological parasites infect the body. These “idea pathogens” distort rational thinking and common sense, often leading to destructive outcomes…
By: Rich on April 15, 2025
This week, we read Shane Parrish’s book, Clear Thinking.[1] The author identifies challenges that get in the way of thinking clearly, strategies to overcome those challenges, and a framework for decision making. The book is a compilation of wisdom and learnings from business leaders, cross-referencing material we have read from authors including Katheryn Schulz, Thomas…
By: Glyn Barrett on April 15, 2025
I picked up The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense with curiosity, and, I’ll admit, a little caution. As a Bible-believing Christian and a pastor, I’m used to navigating the waters where faith, reason, and culture intersect. Much of what I hold to is shaped by Scripture, prayer, tradition, and the…
By: Jeff Styer on April 14, 2025
What I already know What do I believe about modern ideologies? Sometimes you hear a term and because of the various ways in which it is used and where you are at in the semester, you must go back to the basics and look the term up. I looked up the term ideology on Philosophy…
By: Diane Tuttle on April 14, 2025
What I currently believe and why From high school science class, I learned that a parasite is an organism, my brain says a bug, which needs to actually live on another organism, a host, to keep it alive. It feeds off the host which provides nutrition to fuel its life. The problem is that in…
By: Robert Radcliff on April 14, 2025
Clear Thinking by Parrish is a stoic look at decision-making through the lens of taming your natural instincts. Parrish’s point is that we can live deliberate lives by overcoming our defaults with reason. He writes, “The overarching theme of this book is that there are invisible instincts that conspire against good judgment. Your defaults encourage…
By: Noel Liemam on April 13, 2025
Introduction “Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief,” by Jordan Peterson, Canadian clinical psychologist, is about how people come up with meaning of life through history, myth, psychology, and religion. The author attempts to shows the connections of myths, beliefs, science and how people try to understand life.[1] Themes Explored Peterson explores various essential themes…
