The document summarizes two stories about critical thinking - one from Hindu mythology about Sage Pippalada writing answers to disciples' questions about life, and one from Buddhism where the Buddha refused to answer certain metaphysical questions. It then discusses the learning that one sage focused on questions about life while the other asked disciples not to waste time seeking answers.

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Picture credit - ​Sage Pippalada
Day 64 - Critical Thinking Skill
12 June 2020
Prabodh Sirur
sirurp@gmail.com
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My learning for the day
Today I want to summarise two stories from mythology on critical thinking
skills.
I could not find a suitable story about critical thinking from the Greek
Mythology. I therefore picked up something from Buddhism (this is not
strictly a mythological story though).
I dedicate this article to Dr David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastava, who
created the framework of Appreciative Inquiry (a different way of ​asking
questions​).
Story 1 - Sage Pippalada (from Hindu mythology)
Critical thinking is all about ​asking the right questions​ so that we can do an
objective analysis and evaluation of an issue in order to form a judgement.
This story is about a Book of Questions (​Prashnopanishad​ - Prashna means a
question, Upanishad is an ancient Sanskrit text of spiritual teaching).
Sage Pippalada is the author of this Upanishad (Upanishads are answers to
questions about meaning of life, purpose of life, ways to get everlasting joy,
source of creation etc.).
Pippalada was the son of Sage Dadhichi who gave his life to save gods.
Dadhichi’s wife wanted to follow her husband so she left the newborn
Pippalada under the care of a Peepal tree (hence the name Pippalada).
When Pippalada grew up, he got insights from Lord Shiva about life and
became a revered Sage.
Six disciples approached Pippalada to get answers for questions about life;
Pippalada’s answers to these questions is Prashnopanishad.
These are the six questions -
● How did life begin?
● What is a living being?
● Where does life originate from?
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● What is the role of each God in human’s different states e.g. sleeping,
waking and dreaming etc.?
● What is meditation, and why meditate?
● What is immortal in the human being?
You can learn more from these sources - ​Questions that inspire India​ by Ram
Lingam, ​Hindu Social Polity​ by V Nagarajan, ​The Science of Prashna
Upanishad​ by Karthikeyan Sreedharan
Story 2 - The unanswered questions (from Buddhism)
The unanswered questions are those that Buddha refused to answer.
Thích Nhất Hạnh, a Vietnamese Buddhist monk says, “​The Buddha always told
his disciples ​not to waste their time and energy​ in metaphysical speculation.
Whenever Buddha was asked a metaphysical question, ​he remained silent​.
Questioned one day about the problem of the infinity of the world, the Buddha
said - Whether the world is finite or infinite, limited or unlimited, the problem of
your liberation remains the same.​"
These are the questions that Buddha refused to answer -
● Is the world eternal?
● Is the world finite?
● Is the soul and the body the same?
● Does a realized person exist after death?
● What am I?
● Did I exist in the past?
● Shall I exist in future?
The Learning
It is very interesting to see that one sage makes it his life’s purpose to write
about Life’s most important questions whereas the other sage asks us NOT
to waste time in trying to find answers for these questions.
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My learning so far on this topic
Day 4 post​ - 3 Simple Habits to Improve Your Critical Thinking
Day 14 post​ - The Six Hats of Critical Thinking and How to Use Them
Day 24 post​ - The Six Types of Socratic Questions
Day 34 post​ - Two TED talks - Encourage critical thinking with 3 questions &
This is what it’s like to go undercover in North Korea
Day 44 post​ - Two books - Weaponized Lies & Asking the Right Questions: A
Guide to Critical Thinking
Day 54 post​ - Two movies - Girl Boxer & The boy who cried warming
What is Critical Thinking Skill?
Critical thinking skill is the ability to think in an organized and rational manner in
order to understand connections between ideas and/or facts. While Creative
Thinking is about finding new ways of solving problems, Critical Thinking is about
evaluating the new ways proposed by the Creative Thinker.
How to improve this skill?
Set a goal to ​become a go-to person​ by mastering the art and science of ​critical
thinking​.
Follow the ​LAST model​ to build your personal brand as a Guru of ​critical thinking​.
Learn​ - Invest time in learning different frameworks/ models/ techniques of ​critical
thinking
Apply​ -
Identify a model suitable to you
Create a template to document the flow of the process
Find opportunities to use the selected method/ template
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Maintain record/ process flow of every important activities you did with
respect to ​critical thinking
Maintain notes of your thoughts/ insights/ failures/ challenges…. to be used
for sharing/ training others
Share​ - Share the insights captured in step 2 above in a planned manner (social
media posts, blogs, videos, study notes…)
Train​ - Generate opportunities to train your peers and team members so that, over
time, your organization benefits from your efforts
Purpose of this document
I took a 66 day challenge​ to study Life Skills last year (10 April 2019). To my
astonishment, I succeeded in studying for 66 days one skill a day.
My objectives of learning these skills were - To strengthen my mind to face life’s
challenges with ease, To use these skills in my worklife for a better performance, To
use these skills in my personal life for enriching my relationships, To open new
possibilities to surprise myself.
This is my next 66 day challenge​ (from 10 April 2020) - To share my Life Skills
learning with my social media friends.
I pray that my toil helps you in your success journey.
What are Life Skills?
UNICEF​ defines Life skills as - ​psychosocial abilities​ for adaptive and positive
behaviour that enable individuals ​to deal effectively with the demands and
challenges of everyday life​. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories
of skills
- cognitive skills​ for analyzing and using information,
- personal skills​ for developing personal agency and managing oneself,
- inter-personal skills​ for communicating and interacting effectively with others.
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Which LifeSkills are covered?
The ​World Health Organisation​ identified these basic areas of life skills that are
relevant across cultures:
1. Decision-making
2. Problem-solving
3. Creative thinking
4. Critical thinking
5. Communication
6. Interpersonal skills
7. Self-awareness
8. Empathy
9. Coping with emotions
10. Coping with stress.
Some trivia
‘Life skills’ was never part of the school curriculum. WHO/ UNESCO mandated
academia to teach these skills in all schools across the globe in 1993.
Different countries educate their children in these skills with different objectives
- Zimbabwe and Thailand - prevention of HIV/AIDS
- Mexico - prevention of adolescent pregnancy
- United Kingdom - child abuse prevention
- USA - prevention of substance abuse and violence
- South Africa and Colombia - positive socialization of children.
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