Defend Your Right to Think

 The 4th century Greek Neoplatonist philosopher and astronomer, Hypatia of Alexandria, once wrote, "Defend your right to think. Thinking and being wrong is better than not thinking."

She was a prominent philosopher and teacher of astronomy in 4th century Alexandria, who was eventually murdered by a Christian mob, who believed she was preventing the Roman prefect, Orestes, from reconciling with the new Christian bishop, Cyril. She has become a feminist icon.

I totally agree with her belief that "thinking and being wrong is better than not thinking." It is when we don't stop and think about what is going on, in our lives and in the world, when we act without thinking, incited by fear, anger and other negative emotions, that bad things happen. Even if our thinking leads to the wrong conclusion, at least we have paused for thought before leaping into action. Which may stop our action being extreme.

And the right to think is fundamental to human existence. It is the one thing that no-one can take away from us (unless they fry our brains with electric shock). The body can be starved, beaten, tortured, but the mind inside the body cannot be touched.... Except, through persuasion, misdirection, propaganda. Which is why it is so important that we do think about what we read and hear, rather than accepting it uncritically, that we question what others say and write, and bring our own faculties of thought and reason to bear on those statements.

As a Unitarian, I believe this also applies to religious belief. We were originally called 'Rational Dissenters', because of the emphasis we place on applying our reason to what we read in the Bible, hear from the pulpit, read in the newspaper or social media, rather than accepting it uncritically. We also refuse to have any kind of creed, which people must assent to, before being able to name themselves "Unitarian", believing rather that we are all spiritual seekers on a journey, and that questioning and doubts are part of that journey. The only authorities we accept are those of our reason and conscience. So we would absolutely defend anyone's right to think, as Hypatia suggests. Otherwise, how are we going to learn, and to grow into our best selves?