Think for yourself
This post is the fourth in a series of mid-month missives (I like alliteration) that are largely unrelated to behavioral economics (the subject of my first-of-the-month newsletters).
Essay 4: “You’ve got to think for yourselves”
“Think for yourself and question authority.” -Timothy Leary, psychologist and writer (22 Oct 1920-1996)
“A life without thinking is quite possible; it then fails to develop its own essence — it is not merely meaningless; it is not fully alive. Unthinking men are like sleepwalkers.” Hannah Arendt, The Life of the Mind.
In the Monty Python movie, “Life of Brian,” Brian is mistaken for the Messiah. He attracts a large following but wants nothing of it. He speaks to a crowd:
FOLLOWERS: Brian! Brian! Brian!...
BRIAN: Good morning.
FOLLOWERS: A blessing! A blessing! A blessing!...
BRIAN: No. No, please! Please! Please listen. I’ve got one or two things to say.
FOLLOWERS: Tell us. Tell us both of them.
BRIAN: Look. You’ve got it all wrong. You don’t need to follow me. You don’t need to follow anybody! You’ve got to think for yourselves. You’re all individuals!
FOLLOWERS: Yes, we’re all individuals!
BRIAN: You’re all different!
FOLLOWERS: Yes, we are all different!
…
BRIAN: You’ve all got to work it out for yourselves!
FOLLOWERS: Yes! We’ve got to work it out for ourselves!
BRIAN: Exactly!
FOLLOWERS: Tell us more!
BRIAN: No! That’s the point! Don’t let anyone tell you what to do![1]
The self-help industry doesn’t much help us think for ourselves, often dialing up contradictory advice. Actual examples:
Make your bed every day. Or don’t.
Have a to-do list. Or don’t.
Have a morning routine. Or don’t.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Or it isn’t.[2]
In fact, the book, Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made American Helpless, suggests that you might want to avoid self-help advice entirely (does that include the advice to avoid self-help advice?).
I agree with Brian (and Immanuel Kant, among others[3]): You must learn to think for yourself. Accompany this approach with intellectual humility—few things are known with 100% certainty. Be open-minded but, as Jacob Needleman is credited with saying, “It’s good to be open-minded, but not so open that your brains fall out.”
How might we learn to think (better) for ourselves? That’s the topic of a future essay.
Finally, I think the following quote has something to do with thinking for yourself or at least being open-minded, but if it doesn’t, I am still taken with it:
“Things that have never happened before happen all the time.” Stanford Professor Scott Sagan as reported in The Psychology of Money by Morgan Housel, p. 123.
References:
Arendt, Hannah, The Life of the Mind, Mariner Books Classics, 1981.
Housel, Morgan, The Psychology of Money, Harriman House, 2020.
Salerno, Steve, Sham: How the Self-Help Movement Made American Helpless, Crown Publishers, 2005.
[1] The script of the full scene can be found at:
http://montypython.50webs.com/scripts/Life_of_Brian/20.htm
One area I wish you include in this piece is the psychological impact of social media algorithms, which increasingly shape how young people form opinions, compare themselves to others, and confuse repetition with independent thought.
This setup for a future piece is very nice John! By mixing philosophy with humor, you will show how easily we confuse following advice with thinking independently. The message is simple that being fully alive means questioning oneself and staying humble, and carrying the responsibility.