Reason to Rise
Members of Western Society spend years learning. At first, we learn elementary knowledge, such as our times tables or spelling, and then we progress to more difficult subjects, such as biology, Shakespeare, and physics. As we learn these subjects, for many of us, we aren't praised for questioning whether two plus two actually equals four, but rather for accepting statements regarding what is understood to be the basics of these subjects, memorizing these statements, and then reciting these statements on an exam. This method has the advantage of elevating the overall knowledge of the population. However, it greatly hinders our ability to be creative and think for ourselves.
We reach adulthood, and suddenly someone wants to know what we think about something or wants to know what we would do in a hypothetical situation, and we find ourselves at a loss for words. We can state what Plato would have thought, and if we're really critical thinkers, we might be able to argue what Plato would have done in a given situation. As for our opinion, well, we aren't sure. Our minds race to draw parallels between lessons and subjects we've learned, and of course, there is plenty of support for multiple positions, and we can't say which position is better because we don't know. Further, the absolute worst possible outcome is that we are wrong. We absolutely cannot, under any circumstances, be wrong. So, we don't state our opinion or what we would do in the hypothetical situation; we state what Plato would have thought and what he would have done, and we hope that no one notices that we failed to answer the question.
If you've ever found yourself in this situation, don't despair. You aren't alone. After all, we spend almost all of our youths being evaluated on our ability to accept, memorize, and recite statements. It isn't surprising that our abilities to reason for ourselves are underdeveloped.
The good news is that enhancing your reasoning abilities is relatively easy and doesn't require significant effort. The bad news is that enhancing your reasoning abilities is likely to be uncomfortable. The reason for each of these is that to enhance your reasoning ability, you simply have to reason more. Evaluate the options and apply your intuition and the knowledge you spent years accumulating. You don't need to know anything more than you already do, but you do need to accept that sometimes you will be wrong. And that is okay! We are human, we don't have to be right all the time despite our internal need for perfection. This is especially true if you know how to handle being wrong, which is yet another underdeveloped skill. When you're wrong, admit you're wrong, and explain why you changed your position. This demonstrates intellectual honesty, which is perhaps even more valuable than being right all the time because knowing how to be wrong fosters trust. Plus, you learned something new, and the personal connection to this learning makes it more valuable than anything you could learn in a book or lecture.
Whether you want to advance in your career, start a business, or pursue other professional advancements, the ability to have an opinion and reason for yourself is crucial to success. Once you find yourself competing against the top twenty percent of the population, you'll find that every last one of them can accept, memorize, and recite facts. Being good at this no longer separates you from the pack. It is instead the cost of admission. If you want to rise, you must reason.