In his book, Man's Search for Meaning, WW II Nazi labor camp survivor, Dr. Viktor Frankl, taught us the ultimate human freedom that cannot be taken from us. It is the power to choose how we respond to our circumstances. Our current circumstances aren't even close to the horrors of the Nazi camps, yet we are experiencing one of the most challenging times in our 240-plus years of history as a nation.
We are at an inflection point. As this nation decides what it will become, many of us will find that outcome to be a continuous disruption of our peace and contentment. So, how do we find wellbeing? Where do we look for the personal sanity we need to maintain balance in this age of chaos?
The sages throughout history have said, look inward. Inward to that authentic self, that when fully realized, expresses our personality. A gift given to us at birth, our species' biological structure has evolved to survive over the millennia. It gives us the conscious ability to bring order to the chaos that deluges us.
The first step to keeping order is to bring it to our inner SELF. This is the repository of all the uninvited unconscious historical biases from the lives of the people who preceded us. They've taken up residence in our unconscious mind. The prerequisite step to critical thinking is to uncover those biases. They are what automatically affects our first conscious response to everything we think and do.
The challenge is clear. Learn to manage these automatic responses and release your intellectual capacity to think for yourself or settle for being forever manipulated by the whims and fancies of other people.