Consequences of what a person chooses to think

 

What a person chooses to think (and, crucially, what he chooses to evade or to focus on) has consequences in every major area of life: his emotions (“psychological” results), his character, his values, and therefore the course of his existence.

Here’s the Objectivist explanation, in logical order:

1) Ideas are causes—emotions are effects

Your emotions are not a means of knowledge; they are automatic consequences of your value-judgments. If you accept certain premises about reality, man, and morality, you will tend to feel certain things.

• If you think “the world is unknowable” or “reason is impotent,” you will feel anxiety, helplessness, resentment, or a craving to be “guided.”
• If you think “reality is knowable and I can understand it by reason,” you will tend to feel confidence, efficacy, and a long-range seriousness about life.

So “psychological consequences” do not float free. They follow from the ideas you accept, explicitly or implicitly.

2) Existential consequences: premises guide action

A man’s life is the sum of his actions over time. Actions are guided by goals; goals come from values; values come from premises.

Example (simple but accurate):

• If you hold the premise “achievement is noble,” you will plan, produce, train, study, build.
• If you hold the premise “achievement is suspicious” or “the moral is the self-sacrificial,” you will undercut your ambition, feel guilty for wanting success, or seek unearned rewards—then your life will reflect that.

This is not mystical. It is cause-and-effect in human action: a philosophy is a program for living, whether chosen consciously or absorbed second-hand.

3) Character is shaped by repeated choices—especially the choice to think

In Objectivism, the root of morality is volition: the basic choice is to focus or not—to think or to drift.

Over time:

• Consistent focus builds the virtues: rationality, independence, integrity, honesty, justice, productiveness, pride.
• Consistent evasion builds the vices: irrationality, dependence on others’ opinions (“second-handedness”), chronic dishonesty (to self and others), injustice, unearned self-esteem, resentment.

Character is not fate; it’s self-made—formed by the habitual practice of certain choices.

4) Values ultimately rest on a deepest “basic value”

Objectivism holds that “value” presupposes a standard. The root is: life—because only living organisms face the alternative of life or death, and therefore must pursue values to sustain themselves.

So your basic premises about:

• whether life is worth living,
• whether success is possible,
• whether reason works,
• whether you are an end in yourself or a sacrificial animal,

…will determine your “basic values” in practice.

5) A needed qualification: not every thought has equal power

Two important clarifications:

1. Passing thoughts aren’t decisive. What matters is your fundamental premises—the principles you treat as true and act on.
2. Some consequences are delayed. Bad ideas can be “paid for” years later; good ideas can take years to cash out. But the logic remains: premises shape choices; choices shape life.

In addition:

Making the right choices about thinking:

A person makes the right choices about what to think by adopting a method—a rational discipline—for directing his mind to reality. In Objectivism, the root choice is to focus. Everything else follows from whether you choose to think or to drift.

1) Start with the proper standard: reality

“Right” does not mean: what feels comforting, what others approve, or what is traditional. It means: what is true—what corresponds to the facts of reality.

So the policy is: never treat wishes, fears, or social pressure as a substitute for evidence.

2) Choose to focus (the primary choice)

Focusing means: active, purposeful awareness—asking “What do I know? How do I know it? What are the facts?”
Not focusing means: mental fog, passive absorption, evasion, going by mood.

If you want “right thinking,” you must make focus a habit, especially when:

• you feel threatened, anxious, or ashamed
• you’re tempted to “not look” at something
• you want to rationalize a shortcut

The moment you most want to evade is often the moment you most need to think.

3) Practice the rule: define your terms

A huge amount of wrong thinking is sloppy language—using floating abstractions like “good,” “bad,” “success,” “toxic,” “deserve,” “fair,” without definitions.

Force yourself to answer:

• What exactly do I mean by this word?
• What facts would prove it true or false?
• What is the essential characteristic here?

If you can’t define it, you don’t fully know what you’re thinking.

4) Demand evidence and logical connections

Make it a rule: no assertion without grounds.

Ask:

• What are the facts?
• What is the causal explanation?
• Does this conclusion contradict something else I know?
• Am I integrating this with the rest of my knowledge (context-keeping)?

This is what it means to treat reason as your only means of knowledge.

5) Identify and reject the typical evasions

Common forms of mental evasion:

• “Everybody says…” (social metaphysics: treating others’ beliefs as a substitute for truth)
• “I just feel like it’s true…” (feelings as evidence)
• “It must be true because I need it to be…” (wishful thinking)
• “There’s no way to know…” (skepticism as an escape from effort)

Train yourself to spot these as anti-cognitive moves—attempts to get a conclusion without doing the work.

6) Reduce abstractions back to perceptual reality

When you’re unsure, go downward in the hierarchy:

• What did I observe directly?
• What concrete examples support this?
• What would I expect to see in reality if this claim were true?

This “reduction” is a powerful antidote to floating, second-hand, or purely verbal thinking.

7) Make thinking serve your life (values)

Your thinking is not an academic game. The purpose is successful living.

So you should ask:

• What are my values (rationally chosen)?
• What actions do they require?
• What facts of reality constrain the means?
• What principles must I adopt to achieve them long-range?

This keeps thought objective and practical.

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A simple daily procedure (usable immediately)

When you hit a big decision or mental conflict, write answers to:

1. What is the issue (in one sentence)?
2. What are the known facts?
3. What do I feel—and what judgment might be causing it? (Feelings are data about your premises, not data about reality.)
4. What options exist?
5. What are the likely consequences of each (short- and long-range)?
6. Which option is consistent with reality, logic, and my rational self-interest?