Critical Thinking 

VERY, VERY ROUGH DRAFT  - unfinished !!

Pseudo critical thinking and pseudo skeptics
 
Beware of pseudo critical thinking, pseudo skeptics.
Beware of “skepticults”.
Beware of “paradigm police”
Beware of "true believers" and "know it alls" of all kinds
Beware of Dogma in both the remote viewing community and the established scientific community.
Beware of the "One true technique. One true model" tendency in remote viewing and in established science.

Pseudo skeptics and pseudo critical thinkers are often very gullible to their own skepticism. They can become “true  believers” of  their own dogma.
 
 Pseudo skeptics and pseudo critical thinkers do a lot of intellectual posturing for peer approval. They are more  interested in being right, than in discovering truth. They are more interested in always “sharpening the knife” but rarely focus on cutting any thing of substance.

 The pseudo critical thinker tends to mistakenly let the intellect perform the functions of the heart in response to seeing how others mistakenly let the heart perform the functions of the intellect. What is of substance and worthwhile must be determined by both the heart (intuition, feelings etc.) and the intellect. Clear undistorted thoughts cannot exist without a clear undistorted heart.

Pseudo skeptics and pseudo critical thinkers are usually only dimly aware of how their thoughts and views  are being  influenced by their emotional processes and past emotional experiences.

One cannot claim to be a critical thinker until one has become directly familiar with his unconscious processing and  defenses (e.g. projection, introjection, retroflection, denial,  blind spots automatic  thoughts, “group think”, “tribe think” etc. )

For pseudo skeptics and pseudo critical thinkers:  “Extraordinary denial requires extraordinary proof”.

Three major defenses of the pseudo skeptic are “categorize and dismiss” , “take a position and defend it”, "Classify something as too vague and cease to pursue it for further clarification when it clarification is not easily provided."

Pseudo skeptics and pseudo critical thinkers rarely look deeply and aggressively for the truth that runs counter to their  beliefs; they tend to let others bring the proof to them, predigested; They tend look for the truth in a certain form, rather  than find the truth in whatever form it takes, even if it embarrassing to them or unusual, or requires considerable "translation". They won't take truth in a certain  form and  then turn that truth into a form more acceptable to them. They are unaware of how their unconscious preconceptions block them. because they are overly focused on the preconceptions of others, or on trying to make reality fit their more "objective" model of logic and thinking.

For example, pseudo skeptics and pseudo critical thinkers will say something is “too general” and  dismiss it, and will  rarely make their own effort to see if it can be made  more specific, out of their own passion for truth.  They quickly latch on to more simple, less embarrassing alternative explanations in an “either or” fashion.
 
Pseudo skeptics and pseudo critical thinkers have difficulty tolerating uncertainly, and cling to the certainty of their beliefs, even when they believe in uncertainty

True critical thinkers can feel comfortable in the world of the vague and uncertain and can allow clarity to form out of the "fertile void". The logical world of "figuring it out" can only function without distortion when it is in balance with activity in the other world.

Pseudo skeptics and pseudo critical thinkers cling to the paradigm they and their peers have accepted.  They respond to  peer pressure to “stay in the box”. They focus on what gets grant money.

Pseudo skeptics and pseudo critical thinkers are more likely to start with a conclusion or     presumption. - this may be unconscious

For the pseudo skeptic, it is more important for one to think consistently with his imagined peers than maintain the brutal honestly, “not knowingness” and mental clarity of true critical thinking.

Pseudo skeptics and pseudo critical thinkers tend to be much more knowledge based than awareness based

Critical thinking as dogma, and not as discovery is in not critical thinking, no matter how hard one  tries to use the rules of logic etc.
 
Consider that clear thinking existed prior to the formulation of the rules and axioms of     critical thinking.
 
In true critical thinking real time process of thought is as important as content of thought; for  example, thoughts from a crowded overloaded mind cannot form clearly, and hence are subject to many kind of  distortions, even though the thoughts are perceived as imminently logical
 
 A person with distorted thoughts is  like a person who “can't see the flies in his eyes because of the flies in his eyes”; corrective feedback can thereby be short circuited

 A true skeptic and critical thinker is able to question absolutely everything including his own questioning. This requires awareness much more than knowledge. He can tolerate uncertainty
 
 A true skeptic and critical thinker tends to starts and end in a place and consciousness of  “not knowing”.
 
 Pseudo skeptics and pseudo critical thinkers are good at solving problems but poor in selecting which problems are to  be solved.

 Pseudo skeptics and pseudo critical thinkers begin with: I know better, let's look at the accepted evidence,

Consider that thinking makes a good servant  but a poor master.
 

 
True Critical thinking:

"My logic, conclusions are part of my total experience in my flow of consciousness. "
"My experience is my starting point "
 I will first look at something for myself and not according to any authority, external or introjected

Pseudo critical thinking:
"This is too general to be meaningful "
 
 More to be Added later!!  Comments welcome.