![\"Person](\"https:\/\/emojipedia-us.s3.dualstack.us-west-1.amazonaws.com\/thumbs\/120\/google\/146\/shrug_1f937.png\")
<\/p>\nI had a counselor and coach who I started meeting with in 2002. He would ask me such difficult questions in our sessions together, usually along the lines of \u2018why do you think that is?\u2019 or \u2018what do you think about that?\u2019. My default answer was more often than not \u2018I don\u2019t know.’<\/p>\n
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One session together transpired as usual \u2013 him trying to get me to think and dig deeper and me trying to evade and play it safe. I guess being wrong is a deep fear of mine. This day I once again said \u2018I don\u2019t know\u2019 to a question and he called a time-out. He told me I needed to stop using that phrase and that it no longer fit with who I was. I had matured past using it, he asserted, but was still depending on it. I needed to be more thoughtful \u2013 attempt an answer \u2013 add something to the conversation \u2013 anything would be better than another \u2018I don\u2019t know\u2019.<\/p>\n
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I realize now that he was asking me to grow in my ability to think critically and then to practice articulating it. He was not looking for the perfect answer; he was looking for my growth. He understood that my quality of life was dependent on my ability to think more critically. I should not remain at the \u2018unreflective thinker\u2019 phase and he began to push me to the \u2018challenged thinker\u2019 phase[1]<\/a>. I am grateful for the push.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I see that thinking critically is not imperative just for this program we are in but it is essential for a good life. Elder asserts that \u2018Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.\u2019[2]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Quality of thought must be cultivated by intentionality. We do not slide into it or simply evolve in to right and healthy thinking. It is hard work. It is much harder than saying IDK (short-hand for \u2018I don\u2019t know\u2019).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It\u2019s interesting as I reflect on critical thinking this week to be introduced to James K. A. Smith. I agree with Smith that humans are not merely brains on a stick or primarily a container for ideas. His assertion is that we are what we love.[3]<\/a>He does not say that our thoughts do not matter for surely, they undergird and either improve or degenerate what we love and therefore, what we are.\u00a0And if we are primarily what we love then what we think about what we love is crucial. Perhaps if we follow Smith\u2019s line of thinking, humans are what we love primarily and most naturally and then the subsequent work should be to intentionally enhance and improve our thoughts around what we love.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In order to love God with all our heart, soul and mind we must pay attention to our what we think about God. Love and thinking are interrelated.\u00a0A. W. Tozer\u2019s The Knowledge of the Holy[4]<\/strong><\/a><\/em>impacted me deeply a number of years ago. It gave me another push in critical thinking development and this idea that what we love and what we think about what we love are inextricably linked. He claims that \u2018What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us\u2026for this reason the gravest question before the Church is always God Himself\u2026we tend by a secret law of the soul to move toward our mental image of God.\u2019[5]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I am determined to keep doing the hard work of critical thinking and not settling for safe IDKs as often. I am not asserting that we should do away with \u2018IDK\u2019 altogether. I have often taught and been taught in pastoral care trainings how useful \u2018I don\u2019t know\u2019 can be. Surely an honest, soft \u2018I don\u2019t know\u2019 is more soothing in a crisis than pretending we actually do know why something has happened. Also, \u2018IDK and I am going to find out what I think about that\u2019 is much different than a lazy, fear-based IDK.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n As I push on in the stages of critical thinking development, I am committing to the following: practice more with those around me; use IDK only when appropriate; pay attention to what I am paying attention to; and make progress rather than perfection the primary goal in this endeavor.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a>Richard Paul Elder and Linda Elder,\u00a0Miniature Guide to Critical Thinking Concepts & Tools<\/em>, 7th ed., Thinker\u2019s Guide Library (Amazon Digital Services : Kindle Edition, 2014), Location 245.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a>Ibid. Loc 29<\/p>\n [3]<\/a>Smith, James\u00a0 K. A. \u201cDefined\u00a0 by\u00a0 Our\u00a0Loves: \u00a0A\u00a0 Liturgical\u00a0Anthropology.\u201d 11th<\/sup>\u00a0March 2013. Accessed 23rd\u00a0<\/sup>October 2018. http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/<\/a>watch?v=ixKR7duSamU.<\/p>\n