The goal of FreThink is to be skeptical, to question presumptions, to challenge preconceived notions.
Too many times we believe only what we’re told. We fall into our beliefs without consideration or volition.
This devalues our life.
Socrates famously said that the unconsidered life is not worth living. He meant that a life lived without forethought or principle is a life so vulnerable to chance, and so dependent on the choices and actions of others, that it is of little real value to the person living it. He further meant that a life well lived is one which has goals, and integrity, which is chosen and directed by the one who lives it, to the fullest extent possible to a human agent caught in the webs of society and history. (A. C. Grayling)
Practically every human being is inquisitive. We wonder, speculate and want to understand. Often society, religion, the government or our friends and family discourage questioning. Pat answers are provided and if we don’t accept them we’re considered petulant. I see our disbelief and desire to question as a healthy thing, something to be nurtured and encouraged.
Skepticism and free thought challenge authority. As good little citizens, we’re expected to believe what we’re told and let others lead us where they will. We’re expected to accept what the majority accepts. We’re supposed to believe what our parents believed, vote based on sound bites and prepackaged infomercials, worship as we’ve been instructed.
When you question, you pull aside the curtain hiding the wizard. You refuse to accept “because it is” as an answer. You want information so you can understand and draw your own conclusions.
FreThink will present stories, posts and blogs from around the world for you to read and contemplate. I hope they will be starting points for your own further investigations. We all have brains, let’s use them. Let’s take charge of our thinking and beliefs. Let’s all lead lives that are “well lived”.