So many people don’t want to think — especially about personal concerns. Denial is the opposite of thinking. To most people, not thinking feels easy. But it’s not easy. Life is going on around you, whether you think about life or not. Your actions, or lack of action in certain cases, all have consequences whether you think so or not. Thinking enables you to be aware of and maximize control over what you do, and about what happens to you. People who feel like perpetual victims of “circumstance” or “bad luck” or whatever they choose to call it are almost always guilty of one central, simple “sin” of omission: failing to think. Thinking does not guarantee accuracy. You can make a mistake when you think, but you can also correct that mistake later. Thinking is an ongoing work in progress, with conclusions of certainty along the way that don’t require revisiting. Thinking is glorious, and the essence of “spirituality,” if you want to call it that. Refusing to think is one gigantic continuous mistake that puts you (at best) at the mercy of chance events where you might or might not be right. No wonder the world is filled with anxiety disorder, depression, low self-esteem and all the rest. We blame the economy and hormones or brain chemistry, first and foremost. Nobody ever stops to say: “Maybe there’s not enough thinking going on.” Of course, such a conclusion presupposes that thought took place.