Thoughts Are Not Facts, Ideas Are Not Knowledge

This could be a complicated post, as it strikes to the very heart of the theme of this blog. Certain comments I have received (verbally and via email) on the previous post have led me to examine in my mind how it is that a lot of people tend to confuse thoughts with facts and ideas with knowledge. I have met with some criticism from people I know, about that post, because either they thought it was an indictment of their own parenting, or that I was somehow purporting to have it all figured out. Truly, I singled no one out when writing that post. It's just a collective observation with my own thoughts at this point in time on the subject. I chose to title this blog "In The Think" (as lame as it may sound) versus "In The Know" precisely because I'm not so arrogant and naive to think I know it all. To further illustrate and remind what this blog is about, I submit the following.

A thought is an abstract... a notion that needs logic to be followed to a natural conclusion. Even then it's just a well researched thought. The cool thing about thoughts and ideas is that they can change and evolve. Facts and knowledge are fine, but they're not sexy. They are rigid. There's no debating a fact, and knowledge is really just a collection of facts. Conversely, an idea is really just a collection of thoughts, but with all kinds of possibilities because its scope is not reliant upon facts. Theories take thoughts and ideas further, in that facts begin to limit the scope to allow a possible reality to take shape.

Think about this, if you will... If Einstein's Theories of Relativity were ever proven, how cool do you think they would be then? Believe me, if the theories were ever proven (thus becoming facts), I don't think any of us would really enjoy time travel that much. It would hurt..... A lot! However, as it stands right now, it is a wonderful muse for novels, movies and simply the romantic dream of seeing life beyond your years. The sad truth is that reality is based in fact. Therefore, when thoughts and ideas are mistaken for facts and knowledge, I think we get ourselves into trouble. For example, the fact is that American troops are dying in Iraq because it was thought there were WMDs, but the fact is that none have been found.

Beliefs are even worse. And in my opinion, religious beliefs are worse than most. People are willing to kill and die for a belief. There are some who say there is honor in that, but I'm not so sure. It is one thing to kill or die in defense of the "American way of life", which is a belief. It is quite another to do so trying to force that belief on someone else. The biggest issue I have with beliefs is that they are ideas perpetuated as fact. As much of a screwball movie as it is, Kevin Smith's "Dogma" really nailed it with this quote - "I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier. Life should malleable and progressive; working from idea to idea permits that. Beliefs anchor you to certain points and limit growth; new ideas can't generate. Life becomes stagnant. " But then again... it is only what I think.... not what I know.