Thinking and Doing

Presented By Mamoona shahzad

MPhil/2012-27June 4,2013.

Presented ToDR.MAHAR MUHAMMAD SAEED AKHTAR

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss

events; Small minds discuss people.

Eleanor Roosevelt (1884 - 1962) US diplomat & reformer

“You have to allow a certain amount of time in which you are doing nothing in order to have things occur to you, to let your mind

think.”Mortimer Adler (1902-2001)

American Philosopher, Educator, Editor

According to dictionary

• “to exercise the mind in active way, to form connected ideas and using thought or rational judgment about things”.

• Thinking involve in logical reasoning, making decisions and beliefs of an individual. Beliefs system is actually set of perspectives, thoughts, words and actions which help us to find what we are?

• Example

• Thinking is the way that the mind makes sense of the world.

• There is no way to understand anything except through thinking.

what there is what is happening what our problems are what our options are what threatens us what is important what is unimportant who our friends are who our enemies are what our “history” is who we are

Thinking tells us:

Red Thinking: Higher order executive functioning. Thinking that analyzes, assesses and improves greenThinking.

Green Thinking: Instinctive, automatic, spontaneous thinking.Unconsciously guided

To learn anything,

you must actively bring it into your thinking.

Your Thinking can either

Trap You

Free You

Hold youHostage within

uncritically held

beliefs

Open your mind

to new ways of thinking

Trap or free

Philosophers Views about Philosophers Views about ThinkingThinking

• According to the PlatonistAccording to the Platonist

Thinking is either a dialogue in the soul involving mental words or A spiritual activity of inspecting and discerning the natures and interrelations.

• According to AristotelianismAccording to AristotelianismThinking is an act of the intellect in which a thing's essence, or intelligible form.

Conceptualists

• Thinking is an activity of bringing concepts or ideas before the mind, these being either innate and applicable to the world (Leibniz, Descartes) or else formed by abstraction from sense experiences and thus actually sharing the abstract features of those experiences (Locke).

According to Cognitivists According to Cognitivists

That the way people think impacts their behavior and therefore a behavior cannot be in and of itself.

• Behavior is the result of our thoughts and attitude.

Cont…Cont…

• According to the psychological According to the psychological nominalist (Hobbes)nominalist (Hobbes)

Thinking is literally a dialogue in the soul (or better in the head) involving the use of verbal Content/images, or mental words.

Doing

Doing…Doing…

• The word “Doing” seems to be more concerned with actions, behaviors and overt activities which can be directly observed, physically performed by the individuals. Doing is something that helps us to gain experience with life, and to test the insights about.

• A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.

George Bernard Shaw

Thinking and DoingThinking and Doing

• “Thoughts leads on to purpose, purpose leads on to actions, actions forms habits, habits decide character and character fixes our destiny” (Theologian, 1809-1894).

Thinking and Thinking and DoingDoing

““The The Components of Components of

the Deen-e-the Deen-e-Islam” Islam”

Islam is composed of Islam is composed of two componentstwo components

• Inner Component: BeliefsInner Component: Beliefs

• Outer Component: Actions Outer Component: Actions (Works, Deeds).(Works, Deeds).

The Qur’an refers to the The Qur’an refers to the Believers asBelievers as "Those who believe and do good deeds."

Prophet Muhammad Prophet Muhammad (SAW) said: (SAW) said: "God does not look at your faces or possessions, but He looks at your hearts and deeds.

BELIEFS AND BELIEFS AND ACTIONS IN QUR’AN ACTIONS IN QUR’AN

O SUNNAHO SUNNAH

Beliefs and Actions…Beliefs and Actions…• Islamic Beliefs are like the roots

of a tree (invisible)• They are in the thoughts and

mind.• They are not visible to anyone.• All Beliefs altogether make up

the foundation of Deen-e-Islam.

Cont…Cont…

• Belief is the foundation of the tree of faith, without which it dies. Good works are the trunk and branches of this tree; if there were no branches and only a root, there would in essence be no tree. The more the branches, the more perfect the tree is.

Islamic PerspectiveIslamic Perspective

• According to Islamic point of view the relationship between our thoughts and actions or “Thinking and Doing“ Thinking and Doing“ is very strong as well as important; they must be aligned with each other.

• This is especially important to think about considering how God speaks of comprehension and thinking in the Quran. Tafakkur تفكر is the reflexive form of the root فكر, which means to reflect, to think and speculate.

• . Tafakkur means to reflect, think over and consider.

It is mentioned in the Quran 17 times. In Surah Al-Rum verse 8 Allah says:

Do they not contemplate within themselves? Allah has not created the heavens and the earth and what is between them except in truth and for a specified term. And indeed, many of the people, in the meeting with their Lord, are disbelievers.

• The word for “Intellect” is ‘Aql عقل, meaning sense, reason, understanding, comprehension, insight, rationality, mind, intellect, intelligence. The verb form that we will see commonly used in Qur’an isعقل

• In the 49 references in the Qur’an, God often speaks of the disbelievers who do not comprehend..

In Surah Baqarah verse 276, Allah says:

And when they meet those who believe, they say, “We have believed”; but when they are alone with one another, they say, “Do you talk to them about what Allah has revealed to you so they can argue with you about it before your Lord?” Then will you not reason?

The daily motivator by Ralph Martson•

• Tuesday, September 27, 2011• Thoughts and actions

• What you do makes you better at what you think. What you think makes you more effective at what you do.

• Take action, after thinking through the consequences that are likely to come from that action. Put some thought into what you intend to do, and then get busy doing it.

• Express your best, most authentic thoughts with your actions. Focus and empower your actions with your thoughts.

• Balance the informed intelligence of your thoughts with the practical effectiveness of your actions. Thought without action is not worth much, and action without thought can be even worse.

• True excellence results from the synergy of thought and action. Both are vitally necessary, and neither one is very beneficial without the other.

• Consider, question, observe, evaluate, intend, plan, and then do. Think about what you’re doing, and then get busy doing what you think.

• — Ralph Marston

References:References:

• Horowitz (1980). Retrieved from http://azizaizmargari.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/the-critical-thinking-muslim/

• Sakui and Gaies (1999). Retrieved from http://azizaizmargari.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/the-critical-thinking-muslim/

• Victori and Lockhart (1995). Presented beliefs as essentially stable factors which influence action in a cause and effect relationship. Retrieved from http://azizaizmargari.wordpress.com/2011/08/27/the-critical-thinking-muslim/

• Reichard, G. (2010). Change Your Beliefs; Change Your Life. Retrieved from http://www.coachingbreakthroughs.ca/life-coaching/changing-limiting-beliefs/.

• Thomas, J.H. (2006).Thinking Skills’ in Islamic Education. Retrieved from http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_1101_1150/thinking_skills_in_islamic_education.htm