Becoming a Free Thinker

Table of Contents:
1:24 - Two personal motivations
2:54 - The problem with today's politics
4:53 - Avoiding advocacy
8:07 - Avoiding critical douchebaggery
9:10 - Embracing traditional wisdom
10:51 - Creativity and originality
11:37 - Seeing things from multiple perspectives
12:16 - Transcending defensiveness and territoriality
13:30 - Humor and playfulness
15:10 - Becoming a passionate thinker who doesn't cling too tightly
16:36 - The trap of becoming dependent on the idea of independent thinking
17:48 - Revisiting the stuff in the beginning of this video
18:53 - A message to you viewers

[AS-iupl]

It looks to me that your YouTube career is just getting started. Your videos are great, and your job is pretty safe here. I look forward to your future videos!

[HalTuberman]

I"m so happy you're back. Hope you enjoy your retirement. Your videos have been a great comfort to me. They've opened my mind and heart. Hope you can create more content since you are retired. I love it.

[justinbanfi]

Thank you for all you do professor. Don't fly off to far into the cosmos - with your new found free time - to the point where we can't even see you anymore.

[melissajones]

Welcome back Professor. You've been missed...
I'm sorry that your students will miss being in your physical presence in the classroom, but very grateful that you will continue to share your wisdom with those whom you cannot see. With love and appreciation....

[ulrikebehrendt]

Wonderful inspiration again. Will think about how to make it my own.
Thank you and enjoy your retirement. More time for push-ups and running 😊

[dlloydy]

Love this piece. I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently as I am drawn to multiple philosophies/thinkers yet don’t align entirely with them. I had a long spell in hospital several years ago which gifted me with an understanding/clarity I didn’t realise I needed. I digress....You explain this brilliantly. Thanks. Really look forward to where you take us from here. I’m so glad I found your channel.

[johnreynolds]

Thank you Eric. We are your new students. I am 69 years old. Your lectures serve a smiliar purpose as meeting a good friend for coffee. I agree with almost all of your ideas. I find it somehow reassuring that someone as wise as you are able to express them so articulately. They firm up some of the ideas that I have about all the tribalism that surrounds us today. Don't worry this firming up still allows me to hold these ideas loosely. I am a westerner and a Vedantist. I think of you Buddhists as my brothers and cousins. I have enjoyed your talks for years now. You have a friend in Texas. God bless you sir.

[ArtificialHuman]

“Faithful to the higher reality itself”, and this faith gives the strength to resist the gravity of conformity.

[danielavendanopowers]

As a former student, I can vouch that your lectures were always authentic, thought provoking, and profoundly moving (not to mention hilariously corny at times). It's sad to hear that you're retiring solely because future students will be deprived of a terrific professor who brought unbridled joy and passion to each and every one of his lectures. However, with that being said, as an impressionable young adult, I’m grateful to have experienced your positive demeanor and all of the important life lessons that you shared with us. I would like to thank you for the impact you’ve had on my life. You were truly inspiring. Congratulations! :)

[nitestrikebg]

Professor Eric D, please keep making videos, the world needs more of your wisdom!

[gabilurio]

Yay, does that mean we will have more of your videos now? I sure hope so! Also, this video made me think a lot about the concept of eutrapely, which you seem to not only master, but also something I think all true independent thinkers possess!

[patrickboylan]

Big news! Looking healthy there Mr. D. - freedom becomes you. Totally agree with your formulation of this problem. So many in politics come across as disturbingly unreflective reactionary agents of a narrow ideology. Greatly looking forward to hear what's next from you. "I''m thinking".

[jasonbarber]

Happy retirement Professor Dodson. If retirement helps you become an even more independent thinker than you already are...well, I'll just say I'm excited to see where that leads. I always enjoy the content. I hope you keep on with these videos for a long time to come. The value I get from them would be hard to estimate in words.

[alexnoman]

You have lectures on Youtube!? Hot damn, I know what I'll be doing after this :D

[dionysianapollomarx]

I am with you about politics. Even from outside the West. It is a lot of superficiality.

[Tehz]

This good and all. But I think Nietzsche was right in pointing out that not everyone is capable of being a "free thinker" in any meaningful sense. True free thinking is something exceedingly rare. The issue, is that the vast majority of people see themselves as free thinkers, especially in the west. Even when it couldn't be further from the truth. And this concept can also develop a habit of having a disdain for people who disagree with you. Since you are a free thinker, anyone who disagrees with you must not be a free thinker. And then as it turns out, you're not as free of a thinker as you thought you were. And I'm glad you talked about not throwing away traditional wisdom of the western cannon. I think many "free thinkers" fall into the trap of just rejecting these ideas because they are old. And in a way, they become the actual reactionaries.

This may seem cynical, but I don't think there is a point in promoting "free thinking" at all. Free thinking really isn't something that can be taught, real free thinkers are going to be free thinkers no matter what, and sheep will be sheep no matter what. Every society has norms and values, and it will enforce those values as much as it needs to. And that's never going to change. That's partly why I'm not a liberal, or even a classical liberal. So there really is no such thing as freedom of thought or speech on a societal level, only on an individual level. But the problem here, is that humans have never lived as atomized individuals, there is always a collective to which we belong, be it a ethnic group, country, political group, your family even. We are never on our own. As much as we would like to see ourselves as renegades going against the herd, that is hardly ever the case. You are likely just someone going against the more popular herd in favor of another herd that's not as popular, but it's a collective none the less. This doesn't negate the value of the individual, but it shows that the value of the collective and group dynamics can't be just thrown out of the picture. Another big pitfall of liberalism in my opinion.

[projectmalus]

Becoming a free thinker by performing over and over a beautiful swan dive off the cliff of fixed ideas, never landing. Avoid the ego trap by recognizing the multiple players within and allowing them while caring for them. To care for them is to care for the universe. Beware of the false power perception of being more versus the real power of being able to do more. Thanks for the video!

[HeathDavisHavlick]

Welcome back! Love the beard, and how your brain works. :) Looking forward to what's next from you and for you.

[sshah]

Such a fantastic video and talk on what free thinking should be about. I've definitely, at times, fallen into some of those traps you mentioned and have seen others in similar situations as well. I'll have to watch this one a couple more times to absorb everything..thank you for taking the time. For me it all started a couple of months ago with your "Kierkegaard in 19 mins" video and it has been a very informative journey since then. All the best with this new phase in your life as a "child of the universe". Cheers, S.

[kingpineda]

Hank Pim in real life!! Kidding!! Amazing video sir loving it. The part where he explained that free thinking is also just an idea and we should not be too attached to it and the idea of being passionate but not grasping too much in the object of our passion AWESOME!!