Personal Renaissance

Bus 1050

Carter Mann

I have always lived an anxious life; I have always cared about how I am viewed. I use to

wonder what people were thinking of me and always trying to do what I thought people

wanted me to do. My views on this have significantly changed over the last year and part of it

has been through this class and the emphasis of critical thinking. At the beginning of this class I

read “Critical Thinking” by Edward G. Engh (my professor). I’ve also read some interesting

readings in this class that have made me think about individuality and a few books on the topic

of being your own person. If I were to sum up my renaissance this last year and through this

reading, the word would be “individuality.”

Being individual and critical thinking is how I’ve been able to distinguish what pressures

from life and people are worth ignoring, pushing back or accepting. Life throws us many things

that we can’t ignore or push back, however people and society gives us many of these

curveballs that we can push back and ignore. As a child I always did what people told me to do

or advised, this didn’t matter who it was. I would try to do what my parents, friends, teachers,

religion, and media wanted me to do. Many of these things contradicted things told to me

previously. Being able to understand that my opinions, thinking and choices were just as

important and the people telling me how to do things was a great personal renaissance.

So what has learning about critical thinking taught me? What have I learned for myself

from critical thinking? Being able to think critically didn’t immediately change my view of things

but rather set a different course of how I think now and for the rest of my life. No one knows
where this new perspective of thinking will lead me but I know that it will be positive. So far this

new state of mind has taught me a few things. The first thing I learned was to question

everything, even my religion. I always believed my religion to be true but I didn’t quite know

why. I then did research on all of the other religions to get a better understanding of how my

religion differs and compares to other religions. I eventually came to the conclusion that there

is no way to be sure if one or any religions are true, but based on the information I have, my

religion seems the most fitting for me. I also realized that every religion claims to be true,

therefore arguing about religion will get me nowhere. I have also used this process of thinking

to ponder on other topics such as my family, what I really want to do in life, and which of my

fears are irrational.

Along with this renaissance of critical thinking and individuality is expansion of my

personality. I’ve slowly accepted the things I am passionate about and have made them a visible

part of my personality. The main thing everyone wants in life is to just be happy. Allowing peer

pressure and life pushing you away from things you enjoy is not a way to be the happiest

version of yourself. It is good to question ideas and ways of living. Culture and society is always

changing and the people that make the best life usually challenge the traditions. This doesn’t

mean to challenge every part of society but it does mean that you should use your critical

thinking and experience to decide what parts of modern culture are worth contributing to. This

also doesn’t mean that you can strongly pressure people to your ideas, people need to find

things through their own thinking. I am a believer in the idea people will ultimately end up

where they want to be based on their own thinking. A key to speed up this process is to analyze

every aspect of your life and society.

 An interesting reading that has contributed to my renaissance is (My life and Work) by

Henry Ford. This reading is about Henry Ford’s life and process of creating his successful

company. He was constantly looking for errors in his production and always looking for ways to

be more efficient. The opposite of this thinking would be the common saying “if it isn’t broke,

don’t fix it.” I myself use to have this version of thinking. If everyone had this version of

thinking society would have never advanced. I now try to go about my life and routines looking

for errors and finding ways to be more productive and happy. No system is ever perfect, there

are many examples of this. Let’s look at a very simple item like tires, tires have evolved from a

basic wheel on a cart to a stronger tire on a wagon to an even stronger tire on a train or car.

These tires now have been evolved and used on things like planes and even the space shuttle.

Every year tires are getting better and this basic invention has been around almost as long as

humans have. I have only been around for almost 21 years so of course I will never be the best

version of myself either, but I can still try.

The reading of (The Tulipomaina) by Charles Mackay also got me thinking about many

ways that society can affect my thinking. A summary of this writing is that in the 1600s Tulip

bulbs very high in price. Tulips became almost as precious as gold; people were selling

whatever they had to buy tulips. Like every foolish fad, there was a bust, tulip prices fell to near

nothing almost instantly, leaving the people with the tulips in poverty. This reading teaches a

lot of modern business and how hysteria can create over demand on objects. However, this

reading has a lot to teach about personal life and how to not get caught up in hysteria with the

rest of society. These hysterias outside of stocks can also be new products that many claim “you

have to have!” I try to stay clear of these hysterias and use my critical thinking to decide what
is actually a need and what is just foolish desires. One of these foolish social ideas is the

pressure in Utah to get married very young. When I consider the options, it doesn’t make sense

to get married until I have my degree and have a well-paying job; a wife can wait.

In conclusion, my personal renaissance slowly stared about a year ago and is just

reaching its peak. Like civilization, I have had ups and downs in my life. I have had times of

trying too hard to fit in, times of happiness and times of looking out for myself. But like

civilization, the overall trend is upward. I will have ups and downs of knowledge and happiness

just like the past, but I will overall be a better person when I leave this life. Like I have learned,

there are many people and trends that will try to tell you what to do. So my main piece of

advice is to critically think about if these people and trends are rational, including this writing.

Before taking my recommendations into your life, strongly think if they are logical.

Sources

Edward G. Engh. (2016). “Critical Thinking”

Henry Ford. (2005) “My Life and Work”

Charles Mackay. “The Tulipomania”