Think About It...No, Really

One of the things that characterized the so-called Dark Ages was what seemed to be a blind faith in a corrupt church. The people of that time were perfectly willing to believe whatever the pope told them. They were content with not bothering to form their own opinions about matters and not putting forth the effort required to find out the truth. This is why one of the hallmarks of the Renaissance was a resurgence of free thinking: a throwing off of the shackles of a corrupt and oppressive church and thinking for oneself.
It seems that today we need a new Renaissance. Modern man has replaced the church of the Dark Age with the mass media of the Information Age. The unthinking masses blindly accept whatever the media chooses to feed them, not bothering to check the facts or peruse other sources, or even considering that the report is touched by bias. We need a new Renaissance. We need to break the chains of a corrupt and oppressive media and start taking a new interest in the world around us, and stop leting others do our thinking for us.
Forfeiting our right to think and form our own opinions only limits us. What was the consequence of the Dark Age mentality? Overspecialization. If you were a carpenter, you were a carpenter, as your father and probably his father before. If you were a soldier, that is all you were. you didn't bother yourself with the unwarlike things such as books or art. In the Renaissance, however, the idea of the "universal man" came with that era's freedom of thought. A man could, and was encouraged to develop as many skills and talents as he could. Witness Leonardo da Vinci: a great artist, yes, but also a brilliant scientist and inventor.
And what do we find today? The same overspecialization. And not just in a career sense. There are also the many social specialties we are burdened with. If you are a jock, you're a jock, and can hardly be expected to be very intelligent. You hang out with jocks, dress the way they should, and everyone is shocked when someone comes along who defies this social norm. If you are a "drama geek" you dress the part, you act the part, you associate with your fellow actors and listen to the kind of music and like the kind of movies everyone expects you to. Where does the stage end?
Freeing ourselves to think will be freeing ourselves to act and live as we believe we should, not how we think everyone expects us to because of what social caste we occupy. Free your mind.