Forget what you know and start thinking

Forget what you know and start thinking

September 2015

The sky’s the limit.

That’s what American Jacob Barnett has proved by becoming a mathematician, astrophysics researcher and PhD student at the tender age of 17.

That would be quite an accomplishment for anybody.  But what makes his story even more remarkable is that this young man was expected to be unable to learn to read or even to function in society.  Diagnosed with severe autism at the age of two, Jacob’s mother Kristine, was told her son would probably never be able to tie his shoes.  Yet he went on to accomplish so much more than that!

What changed Jacob’s story?

Faced with a child who seemed to be withdrawing into his own world, Kristine Barnett tried something different.  Instead of focusing on the things Jacob couldn’t do, she concentrated on the things he could do.  She encouraged him to explore his passionate interest in moving shadows, patterns and stars.  That transformed him!

In a TEDxTeen talk titled Forget what you know Jacob explains what happened – he stopped “learning” and started thinking! He started thinking about shapes and patterns from his unique perspective and, to make a long story short, it led him to his current research in astrophysics.

Now, this young man encourages us all to forget all we know and all we’ve been told and instead to start thinking for ourselves.

Great discoveries and inventions have resulted when men and women have had the courage to do that – to go beyond traditional thinking and be open to new possibilities.

However, to be a successful or effective thinker takes more than a mere exercise of the human mind.  Courage and the ability to stay the course are spiritual qualities that need to be nurtured.  When paired with a childlike openness to discovering new ideas, they are a powerful combination that breaks limits of mere human intelligence and aligns thought with the wisdom of the divine Mind.

I have found this kind of higher spiritual thinking is developed through daily spiritual practice. Strengthening our relationship with the Divine in this way allows us to think for ourselves without being unduly influenced or swayed by popular opinion or generally accepted theories that generate fear.  It provides the moral courage to question and reason, and it empowers us to stand up for what is right rather than compromising conscience in order to blindly, or fearfully, follow the crowd.

It opens up new ways of viewing our lives, our purpose, our bodies, our health.  Rather than thinking of the sky, or anything else as a legitimate limit to the good in our lives, seeing ourselves as the Divine sees us offers us a fresh spiritual story of who we are. New possibilities and creative solutions fill this diviner story – opportunities appear to bless not just ourselves but to let our love ripple out to touch the world around us. And we find true and lasting fulfillment as a result.

Decades ago, a woman who proved the healing effect of seeing ourselves as God sees us wrote: “The time for thinkers has come”.  

I think the woman – Mary Baker Eddy – was right. The world needs clear spiritual thinking from each of us.

Let’s do it!