I did not delete my previous entry because I disagree with what I wrote. In fact, I feel strongly about what I wrote.
And that's why I deleted it: my emotions were overwhelming me. I felt so strongly about it that I began taking negative reactions to it personally. Partly because I felt a sense of outrage at what my friend wrote. Partly because he's a close friend of mine. And partly because the context involves a community-wide tragedy, and my heart aches for those people.
I still have that entry saved in a file. I'm sure I'll post it again later on, well after the fact and after I've had time to edit out the overly emotional parts. Like I said, I still agree with what I wrote. I still think my friend's Facebook post is not only flawed, but disrespectful and damaging. And I appreciate the comments left by my brothers-in-blog, Tristan and Mike D.
If you don't know what I'm talking about because you didn't get to read the entry before I removed it, that's okay. I'll eventually repost it, when it's merely an intellectual exercise and not a matter of personal emotional investment for me. This entry isn't about my previous entry or my friend's Facebook post which prompted that entry - at least not directly. Today is about how to deal with the possibility of being wrong.
I take freethinking seriously. By "freethought" I mean the lifestyle of critical thinking in the pursuit of truth, wherever logic and reason may lead us. It's the practice of "disinterested reasoning," which means I am not seeking out only evidence which will support what I already believe or want to think, but rather I am seeking out the best explanation for the information available to me. "IBE" - inference to the best explanation - is the goal. The question the freethinker asks is, "What does the data explain to us?" not, "How can we make the data fit our explanation?" Concerning my previous (now deleted) blog entry, for every person who agreed with me, there was another person who disagreed with me entirely. That's really no different than any other blog entry I've written, but this time my blog entry was fueled by my emotional side rather than my intellectual side. I lost all sense of objectivity. I was definitely not approaching the matter with disinterested reasoning.
Freethought means that, if I discover that I was wrong about something, I will change my view. If I believed that Abraham Lincoln was the guy who led the exodus of the Israelites out of Egypt and parted the Red Sea, and then I discovered that Lincoln did no such thing, as a freethinker I would change my view of Abraham Lincoln.
Freethought means that, regardless of how I feel about a given topic, I must concede that I could be wrong. I'm not omniscient. I can't know everything. It is possible that, when investigating the evidence, I miss something. Even if I (or anyone else) were omniscient, I doubt I would be able to know that for certain. A freethinker holds ideas with an open hand rather than a closed fist. I have virtues I uphold and convictions by which I live my life. Freethought does implies neither apathy nor indecisiveness. The lifestyle of a freethinker demands open-mindedness. A freethinker lives an intellectual life of skepticism enlivened by curiosity, and curiosity refined by skepticism.
When I get too emotional, I make the same mistake and fall into the same traps so common among people of faith. I'm a pretty easy-going guy, but I'm also a passionate guy. I want my passion to be guided by my reason, not my reason corrupted by my passion. So I deleted that entry to give myself time to approach the matter with a clear head. It was a personal decision meant for my benefit. I will post it again, after taking the time to review it with unbiased eyes. Perhaps I'll have further reflections on the matter which I'll add to it.
The danger of blogging and having an online presence is that I write something and the public sees it. Who wants to go back and contradict what was said earlier? Who wants to admit to the world that he's wrong? Our brains are geared toward winning battles, not seeking wisdom. We have to train ourselves to make knowing truth the top priority rather than being right - or just appearing to be right. If we don't, then we're not skeptics or freethinkers: we're just people of faith, only with a more hypocritical label.
Why I Deleted My Last Blog Entry
Why I Deleted My Last Blog Entry
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