It's sickening to listen to a person, especially in the media
where there is an abundance of pontificators, repeatedly
and redundantly, who start nearly every sentence with
"I think."  Most "I thinkers," posing as authorities or experts,
have only a modicum or less of knowledge about
issues they purport to know something substantive about.

"I think" is another way of saying, and is often used
interchangeably with, "I believe," which is the second place
run-up to "I think." "I believe" is an unexperiential way
of knowing, more correctly of NOT knowing. Similarly,
this is true of "I think."

What makes a person feel that another person is
interested in what he thinks? Presumably, there are more
than a single answer to this question. For sure, one
answer is: "What a person thinks is seldom taken
seriously, nor thought to be of value and is easily
dismissed when given a second thought. Indeed, little of
sigificance woud be lost if "I think" and "I believe" were
eliminated from the lexicon.

"I believe" might be given a pass, initially and temporarily
for a short period of time, until "I believe" is rejected or
replaced with "I know." The Apostle Paul is known to
have said, "I know in whom I have believed." Believing
often is a prerequisite to knowing, mainly because before
we are able to think for ourselves, to say nothing about
reflective thinking, other people have filled our minds with
beliefs of many kinds and about many things. "I know" is
not an extension of "I think." The two terms are different in
kind, not degree. "I think" seldom invovles "reflective
thinking" which is the kind of thinking that has merit and
exists primarily during problem solving.

Be aware! "I think" is generally "stinking thinking." It is
odoriferous in the nostril of the human spirit.

Dannit! What do you know? Do you "Know yourself?"

Copyright 2012 by Uriah J. Fields

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