Table of Contents so far.
  (click on an item to jump down to its respective section below)

Introduction 
Foreword 
Confrontation 
The Examined Life 
I Want to Know what's Real 
What is Real? 
Personal Responsibility and the Problem of Evil 
Human Dignity: Reality or Fantasy? 
Things we can Know for Sure 
Hypotheses, Theories, Facts and Beliefs 
What it Means to Believe and Why it Matters 
Right & Wrong/ Good & Evil  
Weak-Mindedness 
Open-Mindedness 
Humility 
Odd Sayings 
Shame-Based Personhood 
The Advent of Shame 
Open, Honest and Real 
Human Relationships 
the Future is Open 
Love & Compassion 
Honesty & Justice 
Reason & Intellectual Integrity 
Compassion for Others in the light of Natural History 
To Think is to be Free 
Fully Alive! 
An Invitation to Community 

Appendix A: What you think about what I think...


Introduction: A repeat of my front page greeting
Hello. My name is Steven Reinhold. Welcome to EveryForkInTheRoad dot org, one of the few but growing number of places where you can find someone who's willing to look at life and deal with it as it really is; without denying the pain of it, without candy-coating the negativity with a "positive-thinking" smoke-screen, without avoiding truth (but also without claiming to have found IT), without fear of celebrating what he really likes and appreciates and without trying to frame everything in some kind of mysterious, magical, supernatural or metaphysical explanation. 
    Here you will find some of my observations, examinations and thoughts about my self and my life, other people, ideas, concepts, beliefs, religion, philosophy, science, natural history and the world in which we actually live. 
    Though I may not always live up to the standard that follows, it is my intent to consider all of these things in the light of love, compassion, honesty, justice, reason and intellectual integrity. Just to help ensure we're on the same track as you read further on this site, click this link to open the page with my explanation of what I mean by those words. 

You will not find an attempt to replace one belief system with another (since I have none as you'll discover if you read very far), but an attempt to consider any and all belief systems and/or worldviews with a genuinely open mind and with the skill so foreign to me for the first twenty-some years of my life and which I'm not sure how I lived with so little of for so long, critical thinking. 
    EveryForkInTheRoad-dot-org is a place for me to share thoughts and stories and interact with others (through e-mail and hopefully a discussion board of some kind eventually) about various things including my long, sometimes hard, continuing Journey "Out of the Darkness of an Uncritical Mind". Wherever you're at in your Journey, I invite you into mine and I invite you to share yours with me and/or others as well. 


  Foreword
I have a great passion for learning and great compassion for people. I would some day like to put these two aspects of my life together in the form of teaching, either in classes or through writing books. These pages are not necessarily written for the purpose of telling others about my self. They really started as a journal of sorts for me to express my thoughts and work through them as I learn and grow and mature as a participant in life on planet Earth. However, if you want to get to know me (or at least know about what I think or how I think) a little better, reading this might help. 
    This is kind of a brain-storm scratch-pad session. Though I do intend to write a book some day (when I'm more mature, wiser and have better communication skills than I do now) on subjects touched on here in these notes, this should  by no means be thought of as a finished publication. Nor should it be thought of as necessarily complete or in any particular order (though parts of it might be). At this point it is simply notes to my self which I am making available to others along the way. However, it should be considered original, copywrited material (If I have neglected to properly document any quotes in these notes, I am sorry and I will quickly edit my pages to reflect the appropriate information if anything is ever brought to my attention). 

I may add to or delete from these notes at any time and at any frequency. So, if it seems at all disconnected or like a bunch of pointless ramblings, it may be because that's pretty close to what it is at this point.  However, as much as I can tend to ramble sometimes (please interrupt me if it bothers you), I don't actually see these ramblings as "pointless" as much as I see them perhaps a bit disconnected and maybe still a bit rough around the edges. 
    Just to show my hand and let you know where I'm at... I have had no formal education beyond graduating from 12th grade in the Minnesota public school system as of yet (I've never enrolled in or participated in any classes in college or university as of 20030803) so I do not yet have any recognizable degree in any field of study (science what-so-ever). I'm not professional (getting paid for) at anything other than desktop computer, server and network support (the kind of work I do for the University of Colorado at Boulder). While accredited educational credentials are not the only valid means of establishing expertise, and even though I have a lot to offer in a wide variety of areas relevant to the study of psychology, sociology, anthropology, evolutionary biology and Natural History in general, I do not claim expert status in anything other than thinking and talking about my own experiences in life. As far as everything else, I can only claim to be a human being who can make observations and think. 
    (the previous two paragraphs modified 20030803_1850)

WARNING: Jumping to conclusions about what you read in here may lead to undesired results. If you have questions about anything I have to say in here, please read the entire section and/or ask me clarifying questions (vie e-mail only at this point). 
    I don't want my honest inquiry into the things of this life to be mistaken for an arrogant push to convince others to adopt a different belief system. I have no belief system for you to adopt anyway. I do have a worldview of sorts. I examine it regularly to evaluate its validity in light of reality, and I'm simply inviting others to do the same with their own. 

DISCLAIMER: While it is not my intent to pick on anyone or to cut people down in any kind of way, it is my intent to expose various thoughts, ideas, concepts, "beliefs" and claims to the light of critical thinking and to conduct a rigorous intellectual examination of anything that exists in the arena of the mind. It is my intent to be very kind and gentle with persons, but I consider every thought to be fair game for the onslaught of critical thinking. Whereas your opinions may not always be safe here, you, the person, most certainly should be.

Appendix A: What you think about what I think...
If after reading something on this site you want to criticize the content or style of my writing but aren't interested in what I have to say or in my future as a student/teacher, please don't waste your time. On the other hand, if you are honestly interested in discussing these things with an open mind and/or are interested in helping me learn and grow and mature as a naturalist/anthropologist/writer/educator, then by all means, I'll take as much of your time as you're willing to invest telling me what you think.
    Please feel free to tell me what you think (about these thoughts that is). I'd especially be interested in hearing from you about a couple of sections, "Human relationships" and "An invitation to community" regardless of what or how much else you read on my site. I invite you to send me comments about other things here as well. I just ask that you only send me those kinds of comments after having read the whole section containing the part you're commenting on (for the sake of context ya know). Also, as I alluded to above, I'd actually like to do writing professionally some day...so I'm also open to hearing from you about the writing it self (my grammar, my attitude or whatever sticks out to you). 

Overlapping and repetitiveness... Since a lot of what I write about on this site at this point in time has to do with Critical Thinking, it may very well not only be accidental but on purpose at times if it seems like one part overlaps with another (or many others for that matter). This is not a mistake or the result of shortsightedness. However, I am also aware of the fact that the possibility is very high for something which I consider as appropriate overlapping for a desired effect may actually be annoying repetitiveness to some who read it. As I said, I am not a professional at this in any sense. Please feel free to send me any comments you have that you think might actually help me express things more effectively and in a way that you think might be more enjoyable to read (while still conveying what I have to share that is). 

Again, if you want to critique my ideas and/or writing style, I am very open to hearing and learning from whatever you may have to offer. However, if anyone just wants to complain about any particular section being too long or anything like that, all I can say is... I'm not forcing you to read any of this. 
[TOC] = Main Table of Contents

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