Help, Humility and Critical Societies
I love reading! I love reading anything from pop novels to theoretical physics, from biblical commentaries to Si-Fi. I have often read 3-5 different style books at a time, options for whatever mood I may be in that moment. Despite this love of reading, I have never enjoyed reading books that go into detail telling me what I should do. This is quite an obnoxious byproduct of my severe independence and desire to do it on my own and my way. Thankfully, I have learned to ask for help and have found that working together with others is a delight. As I began to read How to Read a Book[1] I was immediately annoyed and went into is begrudgingly. Come on, I have been reading forever, please don’t tell me how to do it. When I was able to put my pride aside, I came to understand that through the decades of devouring books, I had developed the first three levels of reading that Alders describes. It feels like common sense to me after all the years of reading. The best take away was learning the concept of syntopical reading. I am excited to gain a wide breath of resources and information to go deep in understanding. One of my strengths identified by Strength Finders is Strategic, which lends way for syntopical reading to be beneficial for me. I like taking in a lot of information, seeing the big picture and then finding a path through to make things happen.
I received a lot practical knowledge from the books on smart notes[2] and critical thinking[3]. I have all sorts of thoughts swirling around my head and never really thought about getting them out of my brain and onto an “external scaffolding”. My problems with forgetfulness and scattered thinking can be helped by putting the thoughts and information into an organized set place. I feel a bit embarrassed that this was such an eye opener for me. One of the challenges of my ADHD is that it has always been difficult to get my thoughts onto paper or a computer. It was much easier or more natural to talk about it. I set up Obsidian and transferred all my random notes into it. Seeing that graph of connections was amazing. I have found a way to write it down that works for me. Ahrens writes about how motivation is an important indication of success and that it is important to follow our interests. I am very motived by my research and very unmotivated by writing it. Now I have a system to help me get there.
Though I pride myself on my critical thinking, I must be aware that I can be intellectually arrogant towards those who are not critical thinkers and just accept what they are told, often without rationality or other points of view. How do I be fairer in my interactions with those who don’t or will not think critically? I am open to many different views and consider them all except for those who are close-minded.
I believe many churches follow this one-sided conformity as a basis of their faith. I have read many Christian books that led in the opposite direction of critical thinking towards telling the reader what to think. Black and white thinking is so much easier, especially when the community is just trying to survive. Sometimes conservative, simple, blind faith is all that people can handle. Is critical thinking only for the privileged? the educated? communities that have enough?
I resonated with the ideas of groupishness and critical societies[4] that foster critical thought. My research is focused on social healing and my profession is with communities of women who have not been without basic needs, such as shelter and safety. I used Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in my research workshops and recognized that most people of lower socioeconomic class are in those lower levels of the triangle just trying to survive. Is there a way to foster critical thought in the communities with just enough to stay alive. I have spent a lot of time thinking about how people experiencing low socioeconomic position can become critical societies that foster social healing.
[1] Adler, Mortimer J. and Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book. New York, A Touchstone Book, Simon & Schuster, 2014.
[2] Ahrens, Sönke. How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking. North Charleston, SC: CreateSpace, 2017.
[3] Paul, Richard, and Linda Elder. The Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts and Tools. 8th edition. Thinker’s Guide Library. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield, 2020.
[4] Adler, Mortimer J. and Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book. (New York, A Touchstone Book, Simon & Schuster, 2014.) 43-45
About the Author
Jess Bashioum
One response to “Help, Humility and Critical Societies”
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Jess, you had me with theoretical physics! I read the rest of your opening paragraph with a dopey grin on my face. There might have been an audible laugh at one point.
I appreciated your reflections on a segment’s ability for critical reasoning. It brought forth ideas around the fundamental attribution error and how that relates to executive functioning. Is it an inability of organization, planning, and problem-solving that leads to a low socioeconomic position, or is it societal barriers that restrict the ability to overcome executive functioning challenges? That is a question for your three-year (and beyond) project, not a casual blog comment. Thanks for turning my thoughts away from the more narrow topic of how to read books.