Disputation Of Beliefs And Critical Thinking

Let's imagine, that you've failed on something very important for you. And here are two versions of the thought process (or mindset) for comparison. What emotions do they evoke in you? How do you feel at that moment?

1. I failed. That’s not so good and not so pleasant. Maybe I didn’t pay close enough attention to what was going on to prevent my failure. I regret that.
2. I should not have failed. It’s terrible to fail as I did. And now I am a complete loser with no future.

As you see, the second type of thinking is irrational, brings no hope for the future, kills all searching activity, drives you into powerlessness and apathy. If you stick to such a reaction or mindset for a long enough time, you can fall into a state of learned helplessness, anxiety and even depression.

Searching Activity State - a behaviour aimed at changing the situation (or attitude towards it) in the absence of a certain prediction of its results, but with constant consideration of the degree of its effectiveness.

Learned Helplessness – a state of a person in which the individual makes no attempt to improve his or her state (does not try to avoid negative stimuli or receive positive ones), although he or she has such an opportunity.

So, there is no reasons to suffer, if there is a better, healthier way. This time we'll try to understand, how to dispute our irrational thoughts. There will be no magic or positive psychology here, only straightforward and simple logic.

Let's start with basics.

Critical thinking

Critical thinking is the key to effective disputation of beliefs. So, here is quite simple rules:

1. Critical thinking is always independent thinking. Better to have your own less-than-perfect opinion (or thoughts) than someone else's flawless one.
2. Critical thinking seeks objectivity. We draw conclusions based on facts, not fitting facts to our conclusions.
3. Critical thinking is logical, rational and follows cause-and-effect relationships.
4. Critical thinking seeks convincing arguments.
5. Critical thinking is a flexible thinking (mindset).

Tip Thinking is the only way to make some changes. To change your life, you have to change your mindset, change the mechanics behind your thinking process.

If you want to change your mechanics of thinking, then your mindset has to be agile, flexible and "moving".

The best question that helps you to train that mindset is: What If...? What if I'm wrong? What if I'm right? What if it is possible? What if rules are different?

Disputation

To effectively dispute our beliefs we need only 5 questions:

1. What irrational belief do I want to dispute and surrender?
2. Why is this belief inaccurate?
3. Does any evidence exist for the truth of my belief?
4. What is the worst thing that can happen to me if I keep my belief?
5. What is the best thing that can happen to me if I give up my belief?
   

Optional Questions:
1. What is the best thing that can happen to me if I keep my belief?
2. What is the worst thing that can happen to me if I give up my belief?
3. What is the worst thing can happen if my belief is false?
4. What is the best thing can happen if my belief is false?

And now to practice.

1. What irrational belief do I want to dispute and surrender? I should not have failed. It’s terrible to fail as I did. And now I am a complete loser with no future.

2. Why is this belief inaccurate?
There is no law in the world, that says, that I should not have failed or else. The fact that I failed doesn't mean, that there will not be any other interesting challenges in my life. This is not so pleasant, but definitely not terrible.

3. Does any evidence exist for the truth of my belief?
No, there is no evidence. I am not the worst person in the world and certainly not the worst person I know. There are a lot of people that are less competent than me, but they still have a family, career and hobby. That means, that they have a future, so as I do.
Is there any evidence that I am a looser? No, I just lose one of my opportunities, but that doesn't show that I am a looser. It only shows that I can make a serious mistake.
Is there any evidence that it's terrible? No, it's just unpleasant may be even bad, but terrible is far beyond bad, and nothing is beyond bad.

4. What is the worst thing that can happen to me if I keep my belief?
If I'd believe, that I have no future, then I wouldn't make any attempt to make any difference. I’ll feel miserable a lot of the time. I may drink excessively merely to escape these feelings. I may think it’s hopeless for me to ever do better. I may believe that since I’m a loser, I can’t do any better.

5. What is the best thing that can happen to me if I give up my belief? At least, I'll can start feeling better. If I decide, that I am not a looser, then I will be able to analyse my mistakes and learn from them. May be I would even realise, that some of my mistakes are might not be correlated with me, and some shit just happens. That means, that in the future I'll be able to avoid such mistakes.

Conclusions

As you can see, all we have to do is to look for evidence of the truth. When you challenge your beliefs, try to be proactive and vigorous.

Thinking is a system for accepting change. Often, however, changes are not quickly accepted. So take your time, there's no rush.

And one more thing.

The facts are not fatal. What matters is the position we take.