By meeting two characters, Vlad and Ivan, we’ll learn how thinking for ourselves makes
us more unstoppable, but also, why people stop thinking for themselves in the first
place.
Since he had first started driving, Vlad always used his memory to navigate through his city:
Vancouver.
As a result, he developed an excellent internal map of the city.
With a few minor directions, he could find his way to any location.
And as he grew older, his internal map only became better.
He quickly learned how to navigate in other cities too, due to the knowledge he had developed
in Vancouver.
He intuitively discovered deep patterns embedded in the construction of every city.
He sharpened his directional instincts to the point that he was practically incapable
of being lost.
No matter where Vlad wanted to go, he could get there.
He was free.
Ivan, on the other hand, had always used a GPS to navigate through his city.
He refused to train his mind.
He never thought about where he was driving, only about whatever else was going on in his
life: his work, his relationships, his schoolwork, and so on.
As a result, he never developed a strong internal map.
He never developed his directional instincts.
And so when his GPS broke down, he easily got lost and was incapable of finding his
way to certain places.
He was always at the mercy of his GPS.
Because Vlad thought for himself, because he trained his mind to solve his own problems,
because he refused to outsource his thinking, because he didn’t depend on an external
authority, he had more control over his destiny than Ivan.
Unlike Ivan, Vlad struggled to find his way in the beginning, but over time, this struggle
gave him more freedom.
The more Vlad thought for himself, the better his knowledge of the world became.
And the more knowledgeable he became, the better he became at thinking.
Thinking improves knowledge, and knowledge improves thinking.
The process is self-reinforcing.
And the better you get at thinking, the more control you have over your destiny.
Independent thinkers are like trees.
They struggle at first, but once their roots grow and expand, they grow faster and faster.
They become stronger and more unstoppable in their self-expression.
And thinking for ourselves is relatively simple: all we need to do is ask ourselves why.
Why can’t I get to my destination?
Why study this subject?
Why work this job?
Why dress this way?
Why keep quiet when we have something to say?
Every why fertilizes the mind to receive the seed of knowledge and prepares us to learn.
But if we sincerely look at ourselves, many of us might find that we left our innate curiosity
behind a long time ago.
We stopped asking why because we found it difficult to bear.
A kid who asked why too many times got put into time out.
They were found to be annoying.
They were labeled a trouble-maker.
An adult who asked why too many times ended up like Socrates: imprisoned and left for
dead, labeled as a corruptor of society and the youth.
In his essay Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that,
Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members…The
virtue in most request is conformity.
From a young age, Society, with a capital ’S’, trained us to submit to authority.
Society taught us not to ask too many questions or be annoying.
Society taught us to be “good” little boys and girls.
In the eyes of Society, a “good” child is one that uncritically accepts what the
grown ups say, one that follows all the rules imposed upon it.
As Nietzsche might say, in the eyes of Society, a good kid is like a camel, bearing the burdens
of others, without making too much of a fuss about it.
When we asked our parents why we should eat our veggies: because I said so.
When we asked our teachers why we had to keep quiet and put our hands up: because I said
so.
When a cop unjustly asks us to get out of the car and we ask why: because I said so.
Everywhere society requests that we conform and submit.
But if all we know is conformity and submission, who will be left to ask the tyrants why?
Who will be left to question the usefulness and beneficence of the rules imposed on us?
And if there’s no one left to ask why, we’ll uncritically accept the groundless justification
for these rules: because I said so.
A mind that accepts because I said so becomes barren, unable to learn and grow.
Because I said so is the oppressor of independent thought, the oppressor of our curiosity, the
oppressor of our why.
And because society is made up of individuals, without independent thought, society itself
can’t survive and thrive.
An independent mind refuses authority.
There’s no authority but the truth.
Everything is subject to questioning and criticism, and if something can’t be questioned or
criticized, that means we’re in the presence of a tyrant.
And perhaps the greatest threat of tyranny exists between our own two ears.
A true thinker doesn’t accept the authority of his own past thoughts.
They subject their own mind to the same questioning, criticism, and scrutiny they do every other
mind.
A thinker doesn’t accept because I said so, and so they retain their why.
Why keeps the mind fertile to receive the seed of knowledge, and from the seed of knowledge
grows the fruits of creativity.
And the independent mind’s greatest creation is its own life—its own destiny.
So never stop asking why.
And if you’re wondering why, I just gave you my reason.
It’s up to you to question it, criticize it, and decide for yourself whether it’s
true or not.