animosity, discouragement and reluctance to engage with the teachings.
-- from "The Six Perfections: An Oral Teaching by Geshe Sonam Rinchen",
Shambhala Publications and Snow Lion Publications.
+~
+Bodhichitta can be understood as a quality of intention, sometimes called a
+“great will.” This great will does not come from the ego; it is
+paradoxically an intention that arises through the surrender of the ego. As
+the ego lets go of its assumption that it has a real understanding of what is
+needed in the path of awakening, it surrenders to a deeper quality of will and
+wisdom. The shift from the ego’s center of will to the intention of our
+buddha nature to awaken us for the welfare of others aligns us with a source
+of will far beyond our limited sense of self. I have often described this
+will as a river of intention, which once stepped into becomes an undercurrent
+in all we do in our life.
+ -- Rob Preece, "Preparing for Tantra: Creating the Psychological Ground for
+ Practice", published by Shambhala and Snow Lion Publications.
+~
+ In fact, one of the things that I hope all of us have learned these past few
+weeks is that it turns out smart, effective government is important. It
+matters. I think the American people during this shutdown had a chance to get
+some idea of all the things, large and small, that government does that make a
+difference in people's lives.
+ We hear all the time about how government is the problem. Well, it turns
+out we rely on it in a whole lot of ways. Not only does it keep us strong
+through our military and our law enforcement, it plays a vital role in caring
+for our seniors and our veterans, educating our kids, making sure our workers
+are trained for the jobs that are being created, arming our businesses with
+the best science and technology so they can compete with companies from other
+countries. It plays a key role in keeping our food and our toys and our
+workplaces safe. It helps folks rebuild after a storm. It conserves our
+natural resources. It finances startups. It helps to sell our products
+overseas. It provides security to our diplomats abroad.
+ So let's work together to make government work better, instead of treating
+it like an enemy or purposely making it work worse. That’s not what the
+founders of this nation envisioned when they gave us the gift of self-
+government. You don’t like a particular policy or a particular president,
+then argue for your position. Go out there and win an election. Push to
+change it. But don’t break it. Don’t break what our predecessors spent
+over two centuries building. That's not being faithful to what this country
+is about.
+ -- Barack Obama, after the US government shutdown of 2013 had ended.
+~
+When the teachings say we need to reduce our fascination with the things of
+this life, it does not mean that we should abandon them completely. It means
+avoiding the natural tendency to go from elation to depression in reaction to
+life’s ups and downs, jumping for joy when you have some success, or wanting
+to jump out the window if you do not get what you want. Being less concerned
+about the affairs of this life means assuming its ups and downs with a broad
+and stable mind.
+ -- His Holiness the Dalai Lama, in "On the Path to Enlightenment: Heart
+ Advice from the Great Tibetan Masters", from Shambhala Publications and
+ Snow Lion Publications.
+~
+Critical Thinking as Defined by the National Council for Excellence in
+Critical Thinking, 1987
+
+ Critical thinking is the intellectually disciplined process of actively and
+skillfully conceptualizing, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, and/or
+evaluating information gathered from, or generated by, observation,
+experience, reflection, reasoning, or communication, as a guide to belief and
+action. In its exemplary form, it is based on universal intellectual values
+that transcend subject matter divisions: clarity, accuracy, precision,
+consistency, relevance, sound evidence, good reasons, depth, breadth, and
+fairness.
+ It entails the examination of those structures or elements of thought
+implicit in all reasoning: purpose, problem, or question-at-issue;
+assumptions; concepts; empirical grounding; reasoning leading to conclusions;
+implications and consequences; objections from alternative viewpoints; and
+frame of reference. Critical thinking — in being responsive to variable
+subject matter, issues, and purposes — is incorporated in a family of
+interwoven modes of thinking, among them: scientific thinking, mathematical
+thinking, historical thinking, anthropological thinking, economic thinking,
+moral thinking, and philosophical thinking.
+ Critical thinking can be seen as having two components: 1) a set of
+information and belief generating and processing skills, and 2) the habit,
+based on intellectual commitment, of using those skills to guide behavior. It
+is thus to be contrasted with: 1) the mere acquisition and retention of
+information alone, because it involves a particular way in which information
+is sought and treated; 2) the mere possession of a set of skills, because it
+involves the continual use of them; and 3) the mere use of those skills ("as
+an exercise") without acceptance of their results.
+ Critical thinking varies according to the motivation underlying it. When
+grounded in selfish motives, it is often manifested in the skillful
+manipulation of ideas in service of one’s own, or one's groups’, vested
+interest. As such it is typically intellectually flawed, however
+pragmatically successful it might be. When grounded in fairmindedness and
+intellectual integrity, it is typically of a higher order intellectually,
+though subject to the charge of "idealism" by those habituated to its selfish
+use.
+ Critical thinking of any kind is never universal in any individual; everyone
+is subject to episodes of undisciplined or irrational thought. Its quality is
+therefore typically a matter of degree and dependent on, among other things,
+the quality and depth of experience in a given domain of thinking or with
+respect to a particular class of questions. No one is a critical thinker
+through-and-through, but only to such-and-such a degree, with such-and-such
+insights and blind spots, subject to such-and-such tendencies towards self-
+delusion. For this reason, the development of critical thinking skills and
+dispositions is a life-long endeavor.
+ -- from a statement by Michael Scriven & Richard Paul, presented at the 8th
+ Annual International Conference on Critical Thinking and Education
+ Reform, Summer 1987.
+~
+Critical thinking is self-guided, self-disciplined thinking which attempts to
+reason at the highest level of quality in a fair-minded way. People who think
+critically consistently attempt to live rationally, reasonably, empathically.
+They are keenly aware of the inherently flawed nature of human thinking when
+left unchecked. They strive to diminish the power of their egocentric and
+sociocentric tendencies. They use the intellectual tools that critical
+thinking offers--concepts and principles that enable them to analyze,
+assess, and improve thinking. They work diligently to develop the
+intellectual virtues of intellectual integrity, intellectual humility,
+intellectual civility, intellectual empathy, intellectual sense of justice and
+confidence in reason. They realize that no matter how skilled they are as
+thinkers, they can always improve their reasoning abilities and they will at
+times fall prey to mistakes in reasoning, human irrationality, prejudices,
+biases, distortions, uncritically accepted social rules and taboos, self-
+interest, and vested interest. They strive to improve the world in whatever
+ways they can and contribute to a more rational, civilized society. At the
+same time, they recognize the complexities often inherent in doing so. They
+avoid thinking simplistically about complicated issues and strive to
+appropriately consider the rights and needs of relevant others. They
+recognize the complexities in developing as thinkers, and commit themselves to
+life-long practice toward self-improvement. They embody the Socratic
+principle: The unexamined life is not worth living, because they realize that
+many unexamined lives together result in an uncritical, unjust, dangerous
+world.
+ -- Linda Elder, September, 2007
+
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