Second Principle of Understanding

Think, my friends, think often, think deeply, think passionately, think rationally, think thoughts that are correct, and think thoughts that are wrong. Thinking, in a way, is the mind’s method of walking. If one walks a great distance the walk becomes an exploration. The same applies for thought, the more we think the farther we can go. My friends when you think do not fear that your thoughts lead you down the wrong paths, many of the greatest discoveries made by explorers have come from going the wrong way. It doesn’t matter whether a thought is wrong or right, the right thoughts may be more useful at first, but even the wrong thoughts can be beneficial as well. Wrong thoughts, if met with a hungry mind, encourage more thought, such as why the initial thought was wrong, what made it wrong, and what about it can be changed to make it right? Just believing that something is wrong does not do us any good when we don’t understand why it is wrong. If you were to stare at an optical illusion on a piece of paper, and your eyes are deceived to believe that that object is three dimensional, when you understand it to not be possible, you would believe that your eyes are wrong. Does this mean your eyes are inadequate or compromised? Should you seek help or correction because your eyes were so easily fooled? Of course not, but without understanding how the lines of the illusion come together to fool the eye, then you will understand how your eyes are wrong, and you can see the real picture as well as the illusion.
Also my friends, do not fear the thoughts of others, these thoughts are just as useful to you as your own, even if the thought seems negative. If someone looks down on you for a thought you’ve shared it is beneficial to explore why that thought triggered a negative reaction. If the reproach is undeserved, than it is helpful for you to understand what made the other person react so negatively, to show that individual how your thought is justified, and to help the other person expand their mind if it was a close minded generalization that caused them to respond so negatively. On the other hand if another is justified for criticizing your thought, then it is helpful for you to understand what makes your idea so open for that criticism, and what can be done to improve upon that thought or be changed to make it correct. If a fool for example, tells you that, “you are wrong for saying 1+1=2,” then it is to the fool’s benefit for you to explain why 1+1 is 2. However if a mathematician tells you, “you are incorrect for saying X + X always equals 2X.” Then it is beneficial for you to understand why X+X is not always 2X. By being open and receptive to all ideas, and willing to accept the criticism of your own, you allow your mind to expand, and be prepared to embrace many more levels of understanding which you would have never considered before.
My friends, I must also advise you, never allow yourself to stop thinking about yourself. When we think about ourselves we often see what we want to see and stop looking at that point. By doing this we limit ourselves to our understanding of ourselves, and of everything else that can be possibly understood. When you think about yourself, do not just dwell on that which we want to see, whether it is a positive or a negative outlook. If think yourself to be wise, you have made yourself ignorant, or if you believe yourself to be ignorant you have made yourself wise. Yet by believing you completely understand yourself, you make yourself a fool. Life my friends, I understand to be infinitely complex, but by just dismissing it as complex and leaving it there if foolish and cowardly. We ourselves our complex as well, and to merely define ourselves as such is equally foolish and cowardly. Though we may never understand all there is to be understood, by thinking about all that we can, and exploring all the aspects of this world around us and within ourselves, we venture into the unknown, unafraid of what we might find, and receptive of all that we discover. My friends, nothing can be defined in this world, not ourselves, not our deeds, not even our very existence because a definition is absolute; some thing is absolutely what it is. When we understand enough about this world, ourselves, or our existence however, we can think on the potential for these things to be more. We can think that there is more than just energy and matter to the world; we can think that we have more abilities or purposes in this world, and we can think of all the spender and wondrous mysteries that are a part of existence. It is by thinking that we can understand things, and it is by understanding that we can think more.