Our Fantasy Enmeshed Realities (part 2 of 4)… More Foundational Contributors to Fantasy

Perhaps the most worrisome issue exhibited by victims of poor education is underdeveloped and/or atrophied^[def] critical thinking skills.

“Critical Thinking is the analysis of facts to form a judgment. Critical thinking is self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use. It entails effective communication and problem-solving abilities as well as a commitment to overcome native^[def] egocentrism and sociocentrism.”¹¹

In short… Critical Thinking is the objective, or rather unbiased, analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to make an educated judgment.

So where’s the problem?... Follow the trail of poor education and you’ll find a flourishing garden of poor critical thinking skills.

In their article 7 Poor Thinking Habits We Must Fix to Think More Critically, Wabisabi Learning offers the following poor thinking habits¹²:

• Jumping to Conclusions
• Making Assumptions
• Negative Thinking
• Losing Track of Our Purpose
• Accepting False or Inaccurate Information
• Thinking One-Sidedly
• Ignoring Our Own Ignorance

To complicate things further, even our educational institutions are placing students at risk of missing the mark on nurturing critical thinking skills.

Regarding the role of educational institutions in developing critical thinking amongst students, Psychology Today’s Dr. Stephen Camarata, Professor of Hearing & Speech Sciences and Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences at Vanderbilt University says, “There are emerging reports that although modern students are quite adept at memorizing and regurgitating facts presented in class or in reading materials, the ability to reason, think critically, and problem solve has actually been dramatically reduced in recent years… ‘On average, students make strides in their ability to reason, but because so many start at such a [critical thinking] deficit, many still graduate without the ability to read a scatterplot, construct a cohesive argument or identify a logical fallacy.’”¹³

Author and educator Joe David offers suggestions as to why educational institutions have slipped in teaching critical thinking skills¹⁴:

• We are…
• Promoting students who haven’t first mastered primary skills
• Deluding the value of important subjects that sharpen thinking skills and deepen understanding (like math, science, history, logic, and language)
• Grouping students [with varying learning styles] in a class heterogeneously^[def], not homogeneously^[def] in order to make it harder for teachers to teach
• Coddling students and stroking their self-esteem while ignoring their education
• And giving students the power to compromise teachers who dare to challenge them.

If our educational institutions are falling short on teaching such skills to even the average student, it’s a sign of a huge systemic failure.

The constant demands of the information age further compound our critical thinking calamity… Screens, Computers, Social Media, News, Fake News, and the list goes on and on. School-aged children are constantly being bombarded with distractions, and are missing out on developing imperative life skills.

Critical thinking is exceptionally important in our interpretation of reality because it helps us discern fact from fiction and identify deceitful rhetoric. If we don’t do things to improve critical thinking skills in the United States, and worldwide, then the powers that be will continue driving social narratives which keep people divided.

Yep… There’s a crisis of very successful, wealthy, powerful people thinking they are, and subsequently purporting to be, well educated.

There are people running around out there with Bachelor’s degrees, Master’s degrees, and even Doctorate’s who may be well-versed in a particular subject, but are mentally blind or ignorant to everything else.

Just because people can use their words in a way that sounds palatable, even inspirational, doesn’t mean their influence is merited. This is particularly the case when preaching about something that is not in their wheelhouse… and especially in cases where said influencers will manipulate and undermine the health and security of other people for the sake propagating their own agendas and personal gain.

The issue grows exceedingly worse when influencers like these draw followers from poorly educated circles who look up to them because of their “successes.” Such followers will most often take the words and actions of the “successful” idols at face value, without question, and with completely blind allegiance. Possibly the most extreme example of this is a cult… or North Korea. Anyway, it’s just another form of victimization.

Part of being well educated is recognizing others who are well educated, AND identifying the difference between an influencer who works selflessly vs an influencer who works in their own self-interest.

Buying into deceitful rhetoric is buying into fantasy.

We’ll begin the discussion about the pull of influencers in the next article, so stay tuned.

Finally we need to acknowledge that, if someone has a lack of education, it is not a mark against their intelligence or capacity to think. It IS, however, a sign that one’s intelligence is uncultivated and ignorance is the prevailing driver in their perception. Stupid actions generally don’t make a stupid person. Ill-informed people do stupid things. There’s rarely a moment of hopelessness because learning is a process that can begin to enrich anyone’s life at any time, so long as we choose to embrace it.

The bottom line… a lack of education and critical thinking skills can render us less likely to have the necessary tools needed to efficiently navigate reality. It feeds fantasy.

Unhealthy diet & physical care

This one may seem obvious, but I dare say proper personal health is probably lacking for most people in the US, let alone the rest of the world. Good health is exceptionally important in maintaining a balanced worldview, so it deserves mention.

Unhealthy diet & physical care are tied into a self-perpetuating loop with mental health. Over consumption of processed foods, stress and binge eating, and other eating disorders are all symptomatic of mental health concerns, and inversely, they exacerbate mental health disorders.

This alone could stand as a singular illustration of how unhealthy diet and physical care can contribute to distorted perspectives, but there’s one more side of this issue I want to highlight.

Societal expectations and pressures around physical attractiveness and prowess have launched billion dollar industries, promising consumers unrealistic results.

Fad diets and workouts can be great, but they can also get in the way of progress by placing spatial limitations, financial obligations, and potentially damaging demands on consumers, particularly when said consumers are not well educated on what they’re getting into.

Routines like Cross Fit have caused serious injury to novices and experts alike. Over a million lifters and athletes abuse steroids in the US alone.¹⁵ Fitness fanatics often overtrain, exceeding “their body’s ability to recover from strenuous exercise.”¹⁶ Boxers and football players deal with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) after years of heavy hitting on the brain. Silicon and botox are bulging out of everything people can implant or inject them into. The internet is chalk full of self-proclaimed “models.” People obsess about their looks, and judge the looks of others to a sickening degree. I could go on and on, but why?!

Deriving the majority of one’s self-worth from physical attractiveness or prowess is a mental disorder in and of itself. It’s essentially just another addiction masked under a veil of health… Chasing a fantasy.

There’s a bunch more that could be discussed with regard to personal wellness and its importance in our everyday lives, like the benefits of a well-balanced diet and regular physical activity, but you’ve heard all that before and I think I’ve made my point… Poor diet and physical health can render us less likely to have the necessary tools needed to efficiently navigate reality. They feed fantasy.

To wrap up this segment…

So far in the series we’ve predominately focused on six foundational elements that can cause us to develop distorted perspectives:

• Fear
• Poor upbringing
• Stress, anxiety depression & other mental disorders
• Addiction
• Lacking of Education & Critical Thinking Skills
• Unhealthy diet & physical care

There are certainly other foundational factors, but we’ve covered enough to illustrate their role in our fantasy enmeshed realities.

Next up in the series we’ll dig into types of influencers, and how our minds can be swayed by influence, both good and bad.

The healing process begins by leveraging knowledge and wisdom over injured and victimized perspectives. What we cannot see we can learn, but only if we open our minds and our hearts first.

Thank as always for reading.

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ALL articles in this series:
Our Fantasy Enmeshed Realities (part 1 of 4)... Intro
Our Fantasy Enmeshed Realities (part 2 of 4)... More Foundational Contributors to Fantasy
3 ways our antiquated instincts are killing us (part 3 of 4) - Coming Soon!
3 ways our antiquated instincts are killing us (part 4 of 4) - Coming Soon!