There is a model of how the mind thinks.  I don’t know the source of this idea but I read about it occasionally.  It says that the mind thinks with models, and without a model, the mind cannot think, it can only memorize data.  As it collects data, it looks for patterns and relationships so it can form a model to start thinking with the memorized data, explaining things and making predictions, or “guesstimates”.

To illustrate, imagine a child trying to learn how to add.  He asks his father, what does one plus one equal?  His father says “2” and the son asks, “why”.  His father grabs a rock and says, here’s 1 rock.  Then he grabs another rock and says, this is also 1 rock.  Now I put this one rock together with this other one rock, and I have 2 rocks.  So you see that 1+1=2?  Good!  Now son, what if I added 2 rocks to 2 more rocks?  What do you think 2+2 would equal?  This father is teaching his son addition by giving him a model so he can think for himself.

Imagine another child, and a father who uses the “authority argument”, as explained in Post 2.  When the child asks, “Why”, the father says, “It just is.”  The boy continues asking “But why?”, and the father loses patience and says angrily, “Because I said so!”  This child did not learn a model of math to think with.  He knows that 1+1 =2, he memorized that, but he won’t know what 2+2 equals until an authority, perhaps a teacher, tells him.  If he did learn a model about math, it was an incorrect model- that he doesn’t understand math so he has to trust others on the subject.

This lack of models to think with, or incorrect models, may be why politics is so confusing and controversial.  We are constantly given the authority argument on issues, instead of an explanation so we can understand issues for ourselves and come to an agreement.

Remember from Post 1, the truth is true for everyone and resonates in the mind.  So once the truth is understood (remembered, or realized) by everyone, then everyone will agree.  Wouldn’t that be nice?  A world without argument and conflict, only discussion and cooperation.