Richard, a middle-aged unmarried scientist, devout, quiet if not shy, spoke on the phone to his girlfriend. He called her every night. She said something, not even recalled now, that irritated him terribly. Suddenly, both were shouting. Richard became enraged, clutched his chest, dropped the phone, and fell to the floor. She called 911. Soon the rescue squad took him to the hospital where he was successfully treated for a heart attack.
Following cardiac rehabilitation, Richard, fully recovered, returned to work. He was grateful to his girlfriend for saving his life, and the relationship, now mended, became even more meaningful. They both resided in the same small town, but Richard was more comfortable on the phone, and the old routine of nightly phone calls was cheerfully restarted.
A year later, during a routine evening phone encounter, Richard’s girlfriend said something Richard interpreted as an unacceptable personal assault. It was clearly not so much what she said that angered Richard. It was the meaning Richard gave it. Again, but worse, the elephant, common name for pain of a heart attack, was standing on Richard’s chest. Soon, Richard was drenched in sweat. He started to throw up. This time he asked his girlfriend to call 911.
When fully recovered, Richard reviewed the situation with a friend. He was surprised, but please to learn it’s the meaning given to our experiences, in particular, the meaning of words, not the experiences that alone that affects us. The fewer cognitive errors we make, the more likely we correctly understand each other. It’s a matter of seeking first to understand and then to be understood, as Covey reminded us in Seven Habits of Highly Successful People.
In 1597, Shakespeare published Romeo and Juliet, a play meant for such a time as the 21st century. The young couple fall deeply in love, but an unreconciled feud between their families ( the Conservatives, and the Liberals) prevent their marriage.
The story ends tragically. Both Romeo and Juliet commit suicide. We are indebted to Juliet for the duty to study the effects of words upon life. “Juliet says, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet . . .”
She says this while lamenting her beloved’s name. The line is used to convey that the naming of things is irrelevant. Juliet continues, “So Romeo would, were he not Romeo called, retain that dear perfection which he owes without that title. Romeo, doff thy name, And, for thy name, which is no part of thee, take all myself.”
“Critical thinking is the ability to evaluate information, identify and solve problems, and communicate ideas in an objective and systematic way. Critical judgment involves recognizing that there is usually not one “right” answer or viewpoint when analyzing and judging things from a variety of perspectives.
Critical thinking involves:
- Being aware of biases and assumptions, including your own
- Evaluating arguments
- Identifying and solving problems
- Clearly communicating ideas
- Questioning, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating what you read, hear, say, or write
Critical judgment involves:
- Not accepting ideas at face value
- Recognizing that there is usually not one “right” answer or viewpoint
Critical thinking can help you build self-understanding and confidence and adapt to most issues in life or work.”
Hypnosis was mistakenly called “sleep” when the word was first assigned because a person in a hypnotic trance appears to be asleep. Electroencephalographic studies (brain wave tests) of people in hypnotic trances demonstrate a unique pattern, one different from sleep or wakefulness.
Critical thinking and judgment must be suspended in hypnosis. Everyone can be hypnotized, some more easily than others. Best defined as “focally directed attention,” hypnotic effects can be remarkable. Major surgery has been performed on patients in hypnosis without anesthesia. The flow of blood from an open wound can be stopped with hypnosis. These I have witnessed. Many other equally impressive phenomena have been reported in scientific literature.
Visual TV images and words can have a hypnotic impact. We suspend our critical thinking and critical judgment as a calm TV reporter flashes on the screen. In the midst of the 2020 riots, the optics alone are mesmerizing. Our ‘thought advisor,’ fresh out of the makeup room, in a down-home tone, not unhappily says, “Thus far, the riots have been relatively calm.” He is standing a safe distance from the bright orange and red flames leaping high in the sky from burning buildings, including a courthouse and police station, to mention merely a few structures.
At least half the nation believe the reporter.
Are we not asked to suspend our critical thinking and judgment when told repeatedly, “Our southern border is secure”? The estimated number of unlawful southern border violations is “10 -15 million people.” Most Americans are likely unaware that we have only 8 states with populations of 10 million or more. In other words, unlawful immigrants entering the US could populate the equivalent of 7 or 8 states. Ten states have a population of one million or less.
Are we not behaving as if in some sub hypnotic state? Does our altered mental state not permit us to uncritically accept the purposeful change in the meaning of words?
Please note that a “rose” today is a term designating whatever an ill-defined strategist wishes it to be? Vastly amazing, this is not new. Could it be that 3-4,000 years ago, words also lost their meaning, and the population was dispersed?
11 “Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. 2 And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3 And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4 Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” 5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. 6 And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. 7 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” 8 So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. 9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.” Genesis 11:1-9, ESV.
The Tower of Babel is an example of man’s failure at self-sufficiency and his misperception that God is unnecessary. After so many years, more and more of us want to do it “my way.” We are failing to acknowledge that we are created in God’s image and likeness.
He has given us “a spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind.” 2nd Timothy 1:7, NKJV. Our Heavenly Father wants us to use our sound mind. What keeps us from accepting the reality that God’s love for us is beyond the telling of it, that He is our liberator and our only hope?
All the rest “is just as phony as it can be.”
Robert S. Brown, MD, PHD a retired Psychiatrist, Col (Ret) U.S. Army Medical Corps devoted the last decade of his career to treating soldiers at Fort Lee redeploying from combat. He was a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Professor of Education at UVA. His renowned Mental Health course taught the value of exercise for a sound mind.