Too many people are not learning how to learn, how to actually think, and how to communicate their thoughts. Reasons range from distraction by tech, lowering of educational standards, or denial of access to learning. In oppressive systems, it can lead to the actual removal of the learned, the artists, and the thinkers. The Ageless Wisdom posits that “The next war for humanity will be fought on the Mental Planes”. That sure seems to be happening now.

Let’s look at three levels of thinking and see how we as creatives might move more from Common Thinking to Critical Thinking to Creative Thinking, so we can be at the appropriate level at the right time, and better communicate with others wherever they might be at that time.

What Is Common Thinking?

Common Thinking is essential for sheer survival as well as maintaining one’s physical well-being and other quotidian tasks. (One of my fave Latin words is quotidian = daily.)

But we don’t want to be stuck, lured, or forced into only Common Thinking. Thought contagion and lack of access to outside information can result in Group Think, including willful delusions, anti-intellectualism, cliques, gangs, authoritarianism, and cults. If everyone’s thinking alike, no one’s thinking.

Common Thinking can be short-sighted and result in unintended consequences - “It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“Everything happens for a reason” is a Common Thinking platitude called Retrospective Symmetry. Granted the world and the people in it are rather chaotic and often quite unpredictable. Our minds crave meaning and we’ll often supply it after the fact just to make sense of things.

Another incorrect assumption is that Correlation equals Causation, which it may well not. Just because you won the game wearing blue socks does not mean the socks caused the win, though lots of people will always then wear their “lucky” blue socks. In politics, those in office claim to be the direct cause of good times and blame opponents as the direct cause of bad times, regardless of their actual control or influence. Too often reactions to new ideas are fear and antagonism. This can include irrational conduct determined by the environment, as well as procrastination. Common Thinking can also bind people into group-approved behaviors, often via religion.

Many religions use a sacred, quite often secret language inaccessible by the common folk. The invention of the printing press and the availability of the Gutenberg Bible altered the hold of the Catholic Church on its common parishioners. Of course, whoever translates any sacred languages for printing or preaching can still control a lot of the information.

Common Thinking cannot relate to separate fields of thought so there tends to be no synthesis.

Examples of Common Thinking In Myths

World myths hold stories about the consequences of people trying to move out of Common Thinking. The Titan god Prometheus was chained to a rock and tortured for bringing forbidden fire to humans; fire is often symbolic of the mind. Why would a creator god forbid humans from gaining knowledge about Good and Evil and punish them for trying? And how about the Tower of Babel?

Powers-that-be typically do not want the people they’re controlling to start thinking for themselves, looking around to see who’s really behind a lot of problems and start demanding solutions.

With so much at stake around the world these days, it behooves us all, especially those of us creating art, to not only move up the Thinking pyramid but help and inspire others to do so as well.

What Is Critical Thinking?

So what is Critical Thinking and how can we develop it and teach it?

The Scientific Method – learn it and use it. Science is a process and it serves us best to keep curious, open, and inquiring minds in order to discover new things and better ways of doing old things. Study ancient science, too, as a lot of it still holds and some really old principles are being ‘proven’ by modern instruments. Do keep in mind the difference between Scientific Theory and Scientific Law. E.g., It’s not a Theory of Gravity, it’s a Law – sci-fi, fantasy, and wizardry to the contrary.

Examples of Critical Thinking In Myths

A famous mythical teacher is the Greek centaur Chiron, who taught medicine, music, archery, hunting, and more. His pupils included Hercules, Achilles, Jason, and some say Atalanta.

The Greek Titan Prometheus brought fire down from heaven, allowing humans to stay up after sunset, explore caves, and develop barbecue.

Other gifts from Geeky Gods were more technically advanced. The Egyptian Thoth was an astronomer who regulated the heavens, created calendars, and invented hieroglyphs.

Mezo-America's Quetzalcoatl gifted humans with metallurgy, and arts and crafts; New Zealand god Mata-ora invented tattoos; and Rabefihaza of Madagascar brought hunting and fishing. Nencatacoa was the god of weavers to the Chibchas of present-day Columbia as Arachne was the goddess of the thread arts to the Greeks, and Spider-Woman filled that role for Native Americans.

The 5 Whys Method of Critical Thinking

In many actual cultures, teachers are revered, such as senseis, gurus, kumus, and more. In our current time, think tanks and war-gaming exercises strive to extrapolate ideas out to 3rd, 4th, and 5th-level consequences, as well as correctly assess the resources, resistance, and timing needed to accomplish a goal or a policy.

When looking for the basic cause of something, apply the “Five Whys” method. Keep asking “Why?” for five times; it’ll often take you to the core reason something’s happening. Investigative journalists use this method to good effect as do sociologists, political analysts, and detectives. A useful tool in this method is asking “Cui bono?”, Latin for “Who benefits?”

Sure, you could teach AI to do this, but as recent events show – often at the cost of human lives – taking humans out of the equation takes humanity out of the equation. AI is not and can never be the end-all and be-all of decision-making. See more at the movies.

How Can I Apply Critical Thinking?

Submit your ideas and projects for critical feedback from consultants, editors, and fact-checkers, and for scientific and academic papers, get peer-reviews!

For decision-making, here’s a helpful checklist.

• Does it feel right?
• Is it fair and equitable to all concerned?
• What is the cost-to-benefit ratio?
• What are the possible blowbacks and unintended consequences?
• Will it help or hinder the future?

Also, play chess. I have a Star Trek 3D chess set out on display but my To-Do list still includes figuring out how to decipher the instructions and learn to play it. One of these days…

What Is Creative Thinking?

Creative Thinking taps into the “Raincloud of Knowable Things”. The mission then is to pass that on to others in ways best accessible to them.

Some of the most engaging stories spin-off of Critical Thinking, be it anti-gravity, invisibility, worm-holes, time travel, and more. The Ageless Wisdom tells us the imaginative mind is not dominated by its own past or environment. It is flexible, contemplative, synthetic, and artistic. It can re-use old ideas in new ways. It is not confined by either-or but can embrace both-and.

When you're in the zone with the Creative Force holding sway, most people report an energizing, time-stretching experience, a swirling flow of ideas that can result in great works of art, architecture, exploration, scientific advancements, socio-political systems, rescues, and restoration.

The 7 Categories Of Learning

The Greeks and after them the Masons as well as other organizations dedicated to Wisdom and Creativity saw seven categories of learning as especially valuable. All of these are multi-benefit skills. They help wire your brain for better functioning in many arenas besides these seven.

1. GRAMMAR – structure of ideas, words, and communication/aids in learning different languages and about different cultures, especially helpful in creating new languages like Elvish, Klingon, and the ones in Game of Thrones
2. RHETORIC – word choice, rhythms…persuasion for great speeches, not hate speeches
3. LOGIC – like code and recipes, it has to be done correctly to work correctly
4. ARITHMETIC – helpful in finding a sense of proportion and prediction
5. GEOMETRY – integral to engineering, art, personal and group dynamics
6. ASTRONOMY – predicting the seasons, navigation, a sense of wonder
7. MUSIC – enjoyment, motivation, inspiration

These skills are especially helpful for young brains and go a long way to helping create facile minds open to exploration and creative innovation. Think how many toys for early childhood and infancy are about learning these skills, be it with Lego bricks, colorful mobiles, the sing-song of nursery rhymes, toys with different surfaces, and such.

Unfortunately, too many people are now isolated on screens just absorbing rather than playing and exploring, to the detriment of their mental, emotional, and physical health. You can explore a lot about these with library and internet searches.

Examples of Creative Thinking In Myths

As Plato taught, abstract thought forms are still in perfection, ideal, not distorted by personality, culture, time, and space. [He did give us a great metaphor for the Common Mind with the shadows on the cave wall.]

Many myths are personifications of Astronomy, from the Pleiades to Persephone. The first three skills are evident in formal rules-based debates (not shouting matches). Spartan soldiers were taught dance as it made them more agile in battle. Music can stir us to action, be it for the Dark or the Light. The jury is still out on bagpipes.

So What Does All Of This Mean?

What can further developing, teaching, and supporting the evolution of Common Thinking, Critical Thinking, and Creative Thinking bring us as artists?

Perhaps more sanity and balance, more creativity, more exploration, and more benefits for humans, other life on earth, and even our world as a whole.

Let's hear your thoughts in the comments below!

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