Tag: #ThinkCritically

Critical Thinking 2024

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Roots of Faith: Exploring Nature, God, and Human Belief

Growing up in a Brahmin religious family, I was naturally introduced to a traditional belief system and was engaged in basic rituals like visiting temples and observing customs. Over time, however, my perspective evolved. While I respect these traditions, now I feel a deeper resonance with the natural world, viewing nature itself as the truest form of god.

I often find myself questioning: if nature is the true god, then who are Krishna, Ram, Hanuman, and all the other deities I grew up praying? I wonder about the role they play in my beliefs now and how they fit into my understanding of divinity as rooted in the natural world.

I believe that nature is our true form of god. The elements fire, water, air, and earth are sacred forces that shape our lives, providing all we need to thrive and grow. They remind us the connection with the universe. As people see God as a creator, protector, and destroyer, I believe these natural elements are fulfilling these roles. They create life, sustain and nourish it, and also bring it to an end when the time is right.

Day 5-CT- ETA- Balancing Faith Without Fear: Reflections on Religion and Humanity

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Day 5 of our life class brought up the always-complicated terrain of our views on God and religion. This isn’t a topic that can be addressed lightly, and I found myself somewhere in the middle: not particularly devout in a traditional religious sense, yet far from a skeptic or outright non-believer. It’s a nuanced space where questions, experiences, and even contradictions coexist.

What resonated deeply with me during our discussions was the idea that while logic and evidence shape many of our beliefs, there is also room for the inexplicable. A balance between needing rational proof and remaining open to the experiences that defy it seems, to me, to be the most genuine way to approach spirituality. We live in a world of rules, frameworks, and customs, often inherited through family traditions, and while I respect them as meaningful connections to my past, I don’t believe religion should be rooted in fear or coercion. Forcing beliefs only creates divides and suffering.

I also find it deeply unsettling when religion intersects with politics in ways that divide, manipulate, and harm. For the sake of humanity, these connections must be consciously unmade. At its core, spirituality should bring people together and foster compassion. When wielded as a tool of power or prejudice, we lose the essence of what it can offer.

Day 5 offered much to reflect on, and I left with a stronger sense of what my middle path entails: embracing tradition without losing sight of reason, keeping the door open to experiences that cannot always be explained, and rejecting any form of belief that aims to create fear or division.

Reflection on D5 and 6 Critical thinking class-Lota

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On D5 and 6 of our Critical thinkig life class, The exploration of religious biases left a lasting impression on me, unveiling the intricate ways in which our perspectives and convictions ebb and flow with the tides of circumstance. The diverse array of learning tools employed, including videos, articles, group discussions, and debates, has been instrumental in cultivating a more nuanced and critical approach to understanding topics as complex as belief systems, rituals, customs, and traditions.

One of the key takeaways for me has been the realization that critical thinking is not merely an intellectual exercise but a dynamic process deeply intertwined with our values and actions. The class emphasized how it’s important to combine our beliefs with careful thinking about what is morally right. This mix is crucial for dealing with the complexities of ideas like God, religion, and tradition.

The guest speaker sessions with Vardan sir and Parag sir were particularly illuminating. Their insights not only broadened my perspective but also provided practical insights that I foresee being immensely beneficial in navigating future discussions and debates. The diversity of thought they brought to the table served as a powerful catalyst for fostering an emerging thinking power within me.

In essence, these two days have been pivotal in shaping my understanding of critical thinking and its applicability to topics that often elude easy comprehension. I feel equipped not only to engage in thoughtful discourse but also to approach these discussions with a heightened sensitivity to the diverse beliefs and values held by others.

Critical Thinking – ETA : ” A deep thought for any thought”

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“Thinking in depth with valid and logical reasoning” is what critical thinking is about.

Fountainhead always takes care of the personal & professional development of their employees. Bhargavi Ma’am & Bhumit Sir as our facilitators for critical thinking gave us really good topics and keywords to have a lot of discussion on the first day of our life class. We got to learn about how actually critical thinking plays a major role in our lives. The questions asked by them as to how, when, where, why and what critical thinking is, the answers were within us only, we just did not know to apply them.

Now since that we have the basic & generalized knowledge about it, we can start thinking and taking decisions though critical thinking. Having group discussions is a plus point in these life classes because we get to know many other perspectives and opinions which might not happen to come in our minds.

Secondly the movie which we saw the other day “Oppenheimer” was a great movie and it truly had a lot of critical thinking involved in it. After doing life classes the movies which we watch makes a lot of sense as we see it from a different perspective. This movie showed how certain times we are bound to take decisions in pressure despite of our own self denying to take those decisions. Here the actor J. Robert Oppenheimer was very passionate about his work and when he found a path shown by his professors to turn his theories into implementing it practically by making a nuclear bomb, he achieved what he always imagined and dreamt of but knowing the consequences he was devastated internally by the thought of it. But since it was for his country he could not put a foot backward, as his superiors didn’t allow him to. Moral ethics of the actor was clearly shown in the movie, but certain times despite of critically thinking about the situation he could not do justice with his moral ethics. The movie had a lot of political & government involvement in the making of the nuclear bomb.

Also when it comes to duty towards country and law, one has to go with the duty ethics. The movie was worth a watch and made us also think how thinking critically is applied when taking any kinds of important decisions of life.

An Important skill in today’s era: Critical Thinking

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At first when we started with this life class I thought It’s not going to be interesting at all as the name itself is too heavy. But as and when we progressed further it was quite interesting to understand how a small thing can be seen from varied perspective when we evaluate it critically. The documentaries that we saw the different articles about biases and social taboo that we read and discussed about was alarming and eye opener.

I would really like to Thank all the 6 facilitator for sharing interesting engagements with us as well as sharing their life experiences to make us understand the topic better.

I don’t know how much I will be able to remember all the terms that we have learnt in these sessions but I will surely try to evaluate things with different lenses.

Critical Thinking – “ये सफ़र बहुत है कठिन मगर ना उदास हो मेरे हमसफ़र … “

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Critical Thinking अंतिम अध्याय

आज का Critical thinking का विषय बहुत ही क्लिष्ट था | धर्म, आत्मा, मोक्ष, प्रार्थना,ईश्वर ………ये विषय ही ऐसे हैं , जितना सोचेंगे अर्थ गहन बनते जाएँगे |

मुझे जो महाभारत में धर्म की परिभाषा मिली वो बेहद सटीक लगी |

स्वकर्मनिरतो यस्तु धर्म: स इति निश्चय:।[3] अपने कर्म में लगे रहना निश्चय ही धर्म है।

कोई धर्म गलत नहीं है , मानवता श्रेष्ठ धर्म है ,उसका सही आचरण ही धर्म है |

इसलिए critical thinking अपने निजी जीवन में अपनाते समय थोड़ी कठिनाइयाँ जरूर आएगी, पर इसका इस्तेमाल कर के क्या सही और क्या गलत इसका उचित फैसला निश्चित ही कर सकते हैं |

“ये सफ़र बहुत है कठिन मगर ना उदास हो मेरे हमसफ़र … ”

अध्याय समाप्त !!

(अध्याय समाप्त हुआ है ज्ञान नहीं वह तो निरंतन बहता रहेगा | )

Critical thinking – My journey

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Critical thinking

यह सफ़र शुरु होते – होते अब अंतिम किनारे कब आ पहुँचा  पता भी नहीं चला |

बहुत सारा रिसर्च किया , अपने अनुभव ,गलतियाँ बे झिझक बताई | समस्याओं को अलग नजरियें से देखना सीखा | सिखने के लिए बहुत कुछ हैं बस हमारी सिखने की अभिलाषा होनी चाहिए | मनुष्य समाज का अहं हिस्सा है | सामाजिक जीवन में जो घटनाएँ चल रही है या होगी उसका कहीं न कहीं असर तो होता ही हैं | इस Critical thinking से मुझे जो लाभ मिला हैं ,उसके कारण मैं जागरुक एवं सतर्क रहकर सभी पहलूओं को जाँचें बिना कोई विधान नहीं करूँगी ऐसा दृढ़ निश्चय मैं कर पाई | इस Life class के कारण जिनके साथ कभी कार्य नहीं किए थे उनके साथ रुबरु चर्चा करने का एक सुनहरा मौका मिला |

अमन सर और श्रद्धा महोदया जी ने बहुत ही अच्छे से इसका संकलन किया | जरुरत के अनुसार अपने अनुभव भी हमसे साँझा किए |

 

Critical thinking ??

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Critical Thinking Definition

क्रिटिकल थिंकिंग याने गहन सोच | वास्तविक जीवन में बहुत बार हम कहते है या किसी को सलाह देते समय भी बोलते है ,” सोच – समझकर निर्णय लो | ” यह बोलना जितना आसान उतना ही उस पर अमल करना बेहद कठिन | हाँ , कठिन इसलिए कि कौनसे निर्णय के लिए गहन सोच की आवश्यकता है और कौनसे निर्णय के लिए इतना भी गहन सोचना जरुरी नहीं , यह सीखना अत्यावश्यक है | जब मैं Life class मैं इसके बारे में गहन जानकारी हासिल कर रही हूँ , तब मुझे महसूस हो रहा हैं मैंने कुछ निर्णय Critical याने गहन सोच कर लिए हैं पर कुछ आसान थे और मैंने उन्हें critial तरिके के से सोचा | इसमें संतुलन करना बहुत ही जरुरी है |

Don’t overthink! Think Critically…

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So, after completing the compulsory classes -Life, Love and Integrity, I was wondering what to do next…And then Critical Thinking came to rescue. And hey, now I think I made the right choice!

These past 3 sessions have not only given me tons of food for thought but also enlightened me with so much of gyaan which I could have never gained otherwise. These classes actually make you ponder about every tiny mini thing in your life – the most mundane ones too like the brand of your shampoo or soap :D. Of course, sometimes you need to take it with a grain of salt also but it had helped me to stop Overthinking 24*7 (which is still my favorite thing to do!) and think Critically as well. Hoping for more gyaan-filled sessions this year…!