Thinking: The spiritual, intellectual, social and physical response of a person to his total environment on the basis of all the evidence he can gather and in accordance with his own eternal personality. To think is to exercise agency.
I. Preparation
- Get rid of what we usually start with
Pride
Fear
Despair
Fatigue
Ennui - By fostering what is born of discipline
Humility (spirituality)
Courage
Conscience
Health
Enthusiasm
II. Definition
- Carefully size up the problem and as much of the situation which has created the problem as possible.
- Turn the problem over and over, looking at all sides of it.
- Define how and for what you intend to use the answer.
- Formulate the problem in carefully defined terms.
III. Hypothesis
- Construct an answer to the problem in terms of all you now know and feel. You must start where you are.
- Detail the hypothesis sufficiently that it becomes rich with implications. (This is known as “sticking your neck out.”) This is usually done by making the hypothesis as specific and as “concrete” as possible.
- Formulate the hypothesis as simply as is possible in symbols that will enhance communication.
IV. Test the Hypothesis
- Intellectual. Employ the thinking processes deliberately and carefully. Especially search out the consistency of the hypothesis with as many other things you know and believe as possible.
- Study. Gather relevant information everywhere possible. Read, examine, pick the minds of intelligent people on the subject as you have appropriate opportunity.
- Social. Try your hypothesis out by telling your friends about it. (A friend is a person who can and will cut your ideas down to size with reason and evidence without cutting you down or demanding that you accept his or her ideas.)
- Experiment. Act on your hypothesis doing the best you know mentally, physically, and spiritually. Carefully note the consequences. (If you cannot experiment with it, it is not a real problem.)
- Time. Don’t be in a great hurry unless the problem is unimportant. If the hypothesis wears well over a period of time, good. The better you become at thinking, the more success you have had in doing it, the more you can afford to move swiftly.
- Prayer. The spiritual test is the most important. Prayer should be the beginning, the constant middle, and the terminus of all real thinking. If you are humble and spiritual, light and truth will flow into you as you exercise your own powers to think as fully as possible.
V. Modify your Hypothesis
- As each bit of sound evidence and inference brings new light, modify the hypothesis appropriately. Use all the results of all the tests insofar as possible.
- Never finalize your hypothesis. If it works, delight in it and bear testimony to it on appropriate occasions. But never assume that no new evidence can cause a change in your hypothesis. That would be intellectual and spiritual death.
VI. Record your Results
- Even though your memory is marvelous, write down your testimony of your fruitful hypothesis. Sin can snatch from you both your memory and your testimony to good things. You may need the record later to revive yourself.
- Keep a Book of Remembrance. The most precious heritage you could possibly give your posterity would be a record of your good ideas, your testimony and experiments.
VII. Courage
- Have the courage of your convictions. If you always act on your best ideas, you will never be sorry.
- Bear witness in word (as you are prompted) and in deed to your good ideas. Don’t worry if you stand alone before men. Fear God, not men. If you stand with God, He and many righteous people will stand with you in this age.