NM's blog

I want to mention briefly some of the educational methods used today which in effect further discourage original thinking. One is the emphasis on knowledge of facts, or I should rather say on information. The pathetic superstition prevails that by knowing more and more facts one arrives at knowledge of reality. Hundreds of scattered and unrelated facts are dumped into the heads of students; their time and energy are taken up by learning more and more facts so that there is little left for thinking. To be sure, thinking without a knowledge of facts remains empty and fictitious; but “information” alone can be just as much of an obstacle to thinking as the lack of it. —Erich Fromm, Escape From Freedom , 1941

Our talent for division, for seeing the parts, is of staggering importance — second only to our capacity to transcend it, in order to see the whole.  —Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary, 2012

One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.  —Aldous Huxley, Brave New World, 1932 It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it.  —Upton Sinclair It is worthy of remark that a belief constantly inculcated during the early years of life, whilst the brain is impressible, appears to acquire almost the nature of an instinct; and the very essence of an instinct is that it is followed independently of reason.  —Charles Darwin, The Descent of Man, 1871 People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions; and conclusions are not always pleasant. They are a thorn in the spirit. But I consider it a priceless gift and a deep responsibility to think. When we inquire why things are as they are, the answer is, the foundation of society is laid upon a basis of individualism, conquest and exploitation, with a total disregard of the good of the whole. The structure of society built upo...