The Rudest Book Ever

by Shwetabh Gangwar

  ‘How to think’ is basically not knowing what to think. There you go. It’s as simple as that. Well, not really; I mean, if you understood it, then it really is that simple.

  The problem is that it’s a simple idea that has been made too complicated. So, to reach that simple part, we will have to first get rid of the complicated bullshit.

  First, I must acknowledge something. ‘How to think’ may be a confusing phrase to you. You might call it critical thinking, logical thinking or higher thinking of some sort. How I see it is in a simple way: a person who knows ‘how to think’ properly.

  So, let’s begin. I am sure you have heard of phrases like: think differently, out-of-the-box thinking, open your mind, rewire your brain.

  They genuinely sound like amazing abilities, but the problem is, you don’t know how to do that. They seem like impossible, unique things to achieve, and it becomes a fantasy in your mind. You may think it means thinking like Sherlock Holmes, or some wise, religious figure, or some bearded guy with forty degrees to their name. So, the way we start seeing it is like this: people who know ‘how to think’ are equipped with a superior intelligence, knowledge and understanding of how this world works. Their mind works better than yours, they know more than you, and they think better thoughts than you.

  Then you wonder, how do I learn to think the way they do? It becomes a superpower in your mind, and such people become evolved beings. Achieving it, becomes a fantasy.

  THE FANTASY OF HAVING HIGHER INTELLIGENCE

  When something that cool-sounding becomes a fantasy, it becomes a highly sought-after thing by a lot of people. So, it largely takes people to three places:

  1. People join cults in the name of higher thinking.

  Since it is a type of intelligence that seems impossible for normal mortals to achieve by themselves, the process of developing this ability becomes a Hollywood movie in your mind.

  You think it involves higher learning; sitting on the same spot, eyes closed for hours on end, thinking about nothing; learning mantras in a language you don’t understand, repeating them, and translating them on Google. Upon reading the translations, finding out there is no sudden change in your thinking, feeling a hint of disappointment as it didn’t even make you think, you thereafter convince yourself they are too profound for your current state of limited understanding. A lot of people are doing this. Good for them.

  2. People think they will become fictional characters.

  Since it is a fantasy, in your mind, achieving it will bring you acceptance and popularity, because you’d practically be like a genius fictional character.

  The truth is, it doesn’t change how the world treats you, because the world remains the same. However, you will learn how to deal with shit in a better way.

  3. People become followers.

  Because it’s a fantasy, you become a follower of people who claim to have this ability. You start relying on them for solutions to your problems, become dependent on their programs, classes, workshops, and are willing to spend any amount of money because you believe that you will attain what they have at the end. That doesn’t happen either, because if you did, then how will they earn?

  Anybody can learn how to think. It’s rather dull, and requires from you a lot of commitment over a span of years. You might think: Years? Fuck that! That’s understandable, but it doesn’t mean you can’t focus on other things. Pursue whatever you want. This ability is built silently and simultaneously in the corners of your mind.

  THE WAY YOU THINK RIGHT NOW

  The way you think right now depends entirely on how you were taught to think as a kid. You are most curious at that age. So, at that age, whenever you were curious about something, there is a huge possibility that you were given a packet of information about that thing. And that was meant to make you satisfied and stop thinking about it. This is what it is, kid, move the fuck on.

  When this became your method of thinking, packets of information came from three sources:

  From parents, friends and people that you trusted.

  From television shows, movies and people you watch on the internet.

  From your own feelings, based on your personal experiences.

  You didn’t learn to doubt, question, or how to formulate your own opinion. Your method became relying on packets of information, and believing them.

  And when you believe them, you receive a sense of satisfaction which closes the need to further think about it. You think you know about it now. The thing is, it has remained unchanged to this day. That’s how you still think.

  Let’s take an example. Somebody asks you: How do I get a girlfriend? In your mind, you will look into all the information you have on what girls like, what girls want, and what a guy should do.

  These packets of information make you believe that you know the answer to his question, even though this knowledge has hardly ever been experimented or questioned, compared to other alternatives and theories. There is no information on the longevity of the results.

  You actually haven’t even considered these things. The curiosity of finding out has been replaced by the satisfaction from knowing—even if it is bullshit. But because you have been trained to look for information from the outside, if one packet doesn’t work, you look for another, since countless others are available just a click away.

  This is also why most of your problems remain unsolved. You rely on packets of information instead of thinking about it yourself. You seek some magical information that will solve your problem immediately, somebody who will guide you and explain to you what you need to do.

  ARE YOU ABLE TO SOLVE YOUR PROBLEMS?

  Do you start searching for articles and videos the moment you have a problem? Before reading the articles with the hope of a detailed magical solution, do you first sit down and try to solve the problem, going point by point, by thinking on your own? You don’t. You’re habituated to receiving solutions, ideas and information from others. So, how do you expect to learn how to think when you hardly ever practise thinking!

  Whenever somebody comes to you with a problem, you do the same with them as well. You give them packets of information the same way you give it to yourself from the internet or other people. That does three things:

  The focus is never entirely on solving their problem.

  The focus is more on the duty of providing help and how that makes you feel. I feel so happy that I helped them.

  The focus is on selling that you know what you are talking about, because you don’t want to appear incompetent, which really is a sign of incompetence.

  THE TRUTH ABOUT INTELLIGENCE

  So, thinking differently, in theory, requires two simple things:

  Discovering a new way of looking at something; a way that you haven’t thought of until now.

  Since it is a new way of looking at something, you would have to ignore what you would normally think of that thing.

  For example, we live in a time where the majority of news media organisations tell us what to think, what to feel and what to say. They don’t leave any space for a person to make up their own mind about it. This is teaching humans ‘what to think’. This training begins at a very early age, and unfortunately, in many cases, the first people to do this to children are their parents.

  ‘How to think’ is the opposite of that. It’s a way of thinking in which you use your mental faculties and make up your mind independent from any influence, narratives and bullshit being sold to you.

  This is an oversimplified example to give you a sense of what I am talking about.

  So, the first step of developing ‘how to think’ requires you to not know how to see the thing at first. It requires you to be clueless; because only then you will start to look for clues.

  And for you to start looking for clues, you will have to abandon all the ways you learned how to see things from before. Only then can you come up with a new way of seeing it. This is how creative thinking works as well.

  I
will tell you once more in a different way. When you have to think about something, you forget every single thought that existed before about it. You start from zero. You start from: I don’t know.

  I understand if even now it feels a bit heavy. There is a reason for it. We live in a world that largely celebrates knowledge, not intelligence. And when having knowledge is enough, most people don’t care about thinking. Actually, most people think that knowledge is intelligence, and they cannot be more wrong.

  The idea that a person who has several degrees is intelligent is a highly misplaced idea; but we think like that. So, in school, we teach kids to learn as much as they can. Learning can be achieved by hard work. What about teaching kids how to think? We don’t do that yet.

  A degree is a certificate of skills; therefore, someone with degrees is a person skilled in those subjects, not a fucking thinker. And without the ability to think critically and creatively, people largely remain unimaginative skilled workers.

  This has insane implications in all areas of our lives and the way we think as a society, because this is exactly how we become followers as well. Let’s dive into this properly.

  WE LIVE IN A WORLD THAT CELEBRATES KNOWLEDGE, NOT INTELLIGENCE

  We live in a world in which, if you have knowledge, then you are a cool person. People will think you are competent. I am not saying it’s a good thing or a bad thing; it’s just how things are, okay?

  When knowledge makes you cool and competent, then your focus shifts from thinking what that knowledge means, to collecting it. And when you are simply collecting information, it doesn’t make you think very much, because that’s not your objective.

  Your objective is to be cool; after all, that impresses people—what else do you need! Take the example of a kid who decides to be at the top of their class; they are learning on an incredible level, but not really thinking about what they are learning, because that’s not their objective. It is to top the class.

  Therefore, in this world, the battle is over who knows more, or who can show they have more knowledge—that’s what we are running after. Most people don’t even know what the fuck intelligence actually means. No wonder reading is emphasised so much by people, but not thinking.

  Knowledge is a great thing when the objective is to make you think. It is a superpower when you use it to make better decisions in your life. Knowledge is what enhances your intelligence, because it is food for your thought. But when you don’t know how to use knowledge or data, and it is being used to show-off—that reveals a lack of intelligence.

  THE PROBLEM WITH THE WAY OUR WORLD THINKS

  When having knowledge becomes a sign of competence, not knowing becomes incompetence. So if you say: I don’t know—that’s incompetence. People might think you are an idiot, uninformed, ignorant … you get the idea.

  Now, if you remember, when we were talking about how to think differently, the first step requires you to be clueless; it requires you to say, I don’t know. Only then can you begin to think about it in new ways.

  When we live in a culture where that is punished, where immediately choosing sides, or always having a strong opinion is the norm, thinking gets punished. We discourage it without even realising it. Therefore, our opinions become either first reactions to information, or learning ‘what to think’ from other sources.

  The truth is, it takes time to formulate a solid opinion on something. When you are thinking, it might even take days. But in a world where people claim to be experts on issues they have no idea about, it’s really hard to stay clueless and think—even for a short while. No wonder we have left wing and right wing, and thousands of other groups in everything. No one wants to just wait and think about something from all perspectives.

  Every person is sure they have figured the whole thing out, whether it is politics, modern technology or an environmental or social issue. When having knowledge is competence, anybody who disagrees with your stolen opinions becomes an idiot, and someone who has no opinions becomes straight-up confusing—who the fuck even is that guy! Don’t you care? Are you selfish? Please pretend it matters to you so I can share this clever opinion I’ve stolen from somebody and feel superior? Please debate me.

  The thing is, when only knowledge is valued, one can get it from anywhere, because the source doesn’t matter. The source could be:

  An article. You scan through the information, and then borrow the author’s opinions. You might also believe you have as much of an understanding of the issue as an expert.

  A friend, who has told you what they learned, which you then later recite as your own research.

  News comedy shows; not realising comedy is only meant to make you think, not tell you what to think.

  News sources, which are flag-bearers of selective ideologies.

  Reading only the headlines of articles and what people are saying in the comments section.

  What people you respect are saying. What the famous people you follow are saying. What the group you follow and identify with is saying.

  All of the above teach you what to think. And this is how we appear competent in this world—none of which comes from ‘how to think’.

  WE DON’T KNOW SHIT

  If you wanna be intelligent, my friend, you have to accept that you don’t know shit. Whatever you have been taught until now came from somebody telling you what to feel and what to think.

  We live in a world where we have already built narratives. These narratives create two sides or more. When having knowledge makes you competent, you obviously want to know about stuff and have opinions too. When we don’t take the time to think and do research on our own, we let our feelings do our bidding. So whichever narrative makes sense to our feelings is the one we choose. After that, you rely on the people from the narrative you have chosen to tell you what to think. How do these narratives work?

  One side uses information to create opinions that support their narrative, such as immigrants are evil. The other does the same, immigrants are just like us. With more and new information, the sides either lose or win. But they keep defending and attacking and the circus of narratives continues endlessly.

  The reason why you might be sure that what you know is right is because the narratives have sold it to you pretty convincingly. It’s just brilliant salesmanship. What you fail to realise is: you have to rely on them because you don’t know what to think. You actually don’t know shit.

  Any person or any expert who claims that they know for sure doesn’t know what they are saying. An expert in the same field from a hundred years in the future will tell them the limitations of what they know. In a true sense, we know only a little. And yet, not knowing stuff is considered as a sign of incompetence.

  WE ARE INCOMPETENT AND COMPETENT AT THE SAME TIME

  Let’s quickly settle the debate about what makes us competent as well. We are humans. We are really competent in some things, and totally suck in a lot of other things. We are both competent and incompetent at the same time.

  The problem is our dumb assumption that if somebody is competent in one field, they must be awesome in all other aspects. Unfortunately, that is how we form impressions. ‘They are very competent at this thing; therefore they must be great overall.’ Nope. Having great skills, vast knowledge, and experience in a thing most definitely makes you competent in that thing only. For example, a person could be a competent programmer, but that doesn’t make them a competent person overall. No way does it indicate that the same person is competent in aspects of thinking, behaving, perceiving and creating.

  Similarly, how to think does not make you competent in all respects either. All it does is make you competent in thinking-related aspects; for example, you will become better at decision-making.

  The whole idea of wanting to see people as either competent or incompetent is another dumb shit thing we need to get rid of. People are people—that’s how you need see things.

  WHY IS IT SO HARD TO THINK DIFFERENTLY

  In plain
terms, the two stages of thinking differently are:

  Not knowing or cluelessness

  Wanting to know

  This would have remained this simple if we had not brought ‘what to think’ into our minds and lives. This is what the stages look like now:

  Not knowing

  Learning ‘what to think’

  Abandoning ‘what to think’

  Wanting to know

  Abandoning ‘what to think’ is the hardest thing. Not just because you have been trained. No, sir, it’s because you have become a follower of narratives and ideologies. You see the world a certain way, and abandoning what to think would require abandoning that too. I know; your feelings are involved; there is a sense of community; you are following so many groups and pages; you have made friends; you may even think it is your identity now. It can be hard.

  Maybe if we talk about them, it will be easier.

  HOW THEY MAKE YOU A FOLLOWER

  You follow narratives. Narratives are basically templates on how to see things. Narratives use and twist historical data, present-day information, your feelings, ideal scenarios, your lack of data, and salesmanship to build themselves and spread. If you can see this pattern, you will be able to free yourself immediately.

  For example, let’s take the narrative that dinosaurs didn’t exist.

  It twists historical data—basically uses what supports the argument, and denies and discredits what doesn’t.

  It twists present-day information by creating theories that discredit the evidence.

  It uses your feelings, such as, in this case, scepticism and love of God.

  It uses an ideal scenario, which capitalises on your scepticism, like it’s a conspiracy theory by the government, atheists, scientists or whoever to discredit religion and to propagate science over religion.

  It capitalises on your lack of data and laziness to research it on your own.

  Lastly, a convincing, charismatic figure is used as the spokesperson. A person that makes you think, he looks like he knows what he is talking about.