Some thoughts … on thinking

My wife says – and I expect that, as usual, she is right – I think too much. In my defence, I would say that I am a human being and that thinking is one of the things that characterises us. We are Homo sapiens, after all; we are “thinking things”.

The great thing about thinking is that it yields ideas: sometimes entirely original ideas, and sometimes just new for us. Obviously, thinking lies behind the most important and creative work that we can do.

One of the problems with thinking too much, though, is that it can result in anxiety, if we dwell too long on ideas (which can easily begin to seem like problems) that seem insurmountable. This problematic thinking can rob us of the sleep which is essential for our wellbeing (which is when my wife tells me that I think too much). Ah, sleep … that blessed, sometimes-elusive state, in which we yield our minds to unconsciousness and allow ourselves to process all the data we have received since last we slept.

Thinking ought to be the thing that characterises a really great education. Learning how to think well is at the heart of the intellectual virtues; virtues such as curiosity, critical thinking, reflection, reasoning and judgement. Of course, Artificial Intelligence may mimic some of these thinking processes, but I’m not sure that we will ever have a curious robot – or, for that matter, a truly creative (in the way that we understand what it means to be human) robot. So, what schools really ought to be doing is teaching students how to think properly.

I would argue, though, that thinking alone is not enough. After all, we are human beings, not “human thinkings” or even “human doings”. And so, a really great, holistic education will also contribute to the formation of moral, ethical and spiritual virtues. As Steve Garber says – “True education is always about learning to connect knowing with doing, belief with behaviour…”.

A quote attributed to CS Lewis tells us - “You do not have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body”. The exact nature of the soul is contentious, but I would also make a distinction between soul and mind (after all, if a person were to lose their mind, surely their soul is still safe in God’s hands?). So go ahead and think. Encourage your students to think as well – it’s so much more important than simply acquiring the knowledge to “do well at school”. Yes – thinking too much is a risk, but it is not as much of a risk as thinking too little.