I like investigation as an activity. It seems like the path to some pretty good truth. Investigation requires questioning and doubts. You read or hear (or think) an assertion: A is x. Is it really? Or is that just an illusion? What is the evidence that A is x? How long has A been x? The assertion gets interrogated as the investigation proceeds.
My personality, my childhood, my family life, the qualities of the age - science, debate and dialogue, even the invention and rise of mass media and advertising with its assertions that this product is better than that one - all those forces contribute to founding and maintaining a habit of critical thinking. Since the habit is a habit of mind, I can't easily take a break from critical thinking. In general, the more I care about an assertion, the more strongly and persistently my investigatory habits kick in.
It's true that when I meditate, I can and do stop critical thinking. During those ten minutes, I just listen and look. I am just aware. Minds are thought-producers naturally but when I do realize I am into consideration, thought production or critical thinking, which I notice fairly quickly since I am used to meditation, then I go back to just observing and listening and not thinking or imagining. But the critical/investigatory stuff comes right in as soon as it is allowed. "Who says?" "How do we know?" Etc.
Schools often tout their emphasis on critical thinking, which is indeed important in today's world of political, advertising and scams, continuous scientific debates about emerging ideas and possibilities and a stunning set of choices for money, energy and allegiance. However, teachers and parents who live with bright, questioning kids can tell you about the greater burden of working with critical thinkers, as can politicians, executives and physicians as the world increases its communication and consequent dialogues among differing thinkers and doers.
Am I a good husband? A good citizen? Am I led by the nose by showy displays and claims? Maybe. Depends on who you ask, what you mean and what evidence can be pulled together for and against.
