The Next Chapter

Purposeful Wanderings - Bradford L. Glass - July 2026

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  "To pay attention. That is our endless and proper work." – Mary Oliver

25 years ago, I began the Purposeful Wanderings journey … a monthly inquiry into authentic living. I didn’t know where the path might lead. Reflecting now, I feel gratitude – for you, as participants in the journey, as inspiration, both for my journey and (I hope) yours. I honor your interest, connectedness, comments, wisdom. It’s been a great run; yet it’s also time for a new chapter. I’m not retiring … what’s so deep inside me wouldn’t let me stop even if I tried. I’ll be 80 next month, and although I’m aware that the shadow behind me is longer than the path in front of me (thank you, Parker Palmer!), I’ve still got miles left … so I’ll keep writing … coaching … inspiring (I hope) … being inspired. As was true 25 years ago, I don’t know where the path will lead. I do know I’ll create it as I walk. And I’ll walk with my intention & heart as companions; I won’t get lost that way (thank you, Richard Wagamese!).

As a closing topic, an inquiry into what may well be the most crucial issue we face in these trying times, both as a society and as individuals: critical thinking … a key aspect of being human, and living with truth, freedom & joy.  

Since the dawn of humanity, we’ve been seekers of truth, searchers for answers to life’s (and our own) great mysteries. We’re programmed for curiosity & wonder, to find “something bigger” in our existence. The miracle of evolution offered this amazing gift of consciousness. Best we know, we’re the only species aware of its awareness. Best we know, we’re the only species that can choose the course of our lives. (I’ve met a lot of polar bears, but not one who was tired of catching seals and went looking for a better job.) Our consciousness allows us … to solve problems … to contemplate ourselves, the universe, our place in that universe … to unravel the mysteries of life … to discover what unique gift lives inside us … to nurture this gift into being through how we live our lives. This consciousness allows us to have fears yet, at the same time, choose to not become them. Powerful stuff.

Yet for all these gifts, it’s curious how few we seem to use. While we firmly believe we’re thinking with objectivity, clarity and openness (and therefore have no need to change), we’re easily distracted by fears; we’re susceptible to believing convenient lies over inconvenient or complex truths; we’re easily railroaded by what sounds good in the moment; we’re willing to discard, deny, or willfully ignore incontrovertible evidence right in front of us in order to maintain an opinion for which no such substantiation exists; we often-unknowingly claim “truth” from our emotions and not our thinking (while unconsciously mistaking the two); we follow others who do the same.  Not one of these is a result of thinking. And we miss that.

If there were one thing that could change the course of our lives, and perhaps change the course of a society at risk of losing its way, it would be to rekindle that capacity for critical thought. We may shun this path because it’s not “easy.” Yet it’s the only path that leads to our truth, not away from it. It takes true curiosity … about self, life, world. It takes awareness … to recognize when we’re trapped in non-thinking instead. It takes practice … to be an observer of our thinking, not just an unconscious participant in it. It takes intention … to use that awareness to make new choices. It takes self-trust … to be changed by what we discover with our questioning. It takes courage … to risk standing alone in a sea of small-mindedness that will most assuredly surround us. It takes resilience … to welcome life’s inevitable challenges as teachers, not as problems to avoid. It takes patience … to not lose sight of the potential – our own potential – while staying committed to the journey. You may stand out in a crowd; yet you’ll never be lost again.  Life’s big questions rarely have easy answers; but they do have honest ones.

We might start the journey (it’s indeed a journey) with a look at differences between opinion, belief & truth. Each has its place – but all are different. And we miss that. We need deep felt experience … that opinion is personal; and while it doesn’t need evidence, it doesn’t become truth with repeated screaming … that belief is also personal, but is, in fact, a placeholder for what we don’t yet know … that truth is a result of intentional questioning, gathering of evidence & experiment. Truth stands on its own; it doesn’t need to yell. You will always be entitled to your opinions … and your beliefs. But … they belong only to you; calling them truths is not evidence of same.

Exercise #1:   Toward inquiry. What’s your “inquisitiveness quotient.” Ask yourself how you’ve arrived at what you know as truth today. This isn’t about what you see as true, but the process by which you came to know it. Did your “truth” come from an ever-growing spiral of passionate curiosity? Was it what’s left over after failing to look? Give this inquiry some open-minded reflection. See if you can find a relationship between “how you know” and how much possibility your life holds. Clue: they’re intimately intertwined, woven together by your tolerance for uncertainty and change. (If you dislike what you discover, you’re free to change your mind … another human trait)

Exercise #2:  Changing your viewpoint. As a way to shift your perspective so as to create a bigger world, ask some big questions – the kind that don’t have “easy answers,” but rather invite pondering and reflection, so the answers seep in. This kind of quiet, but powerful, inquiry is so uncommon in our society that it’s no wonder we don’t experience the underlying order life offers. Here are a few questions that might take you to new places:

What if my mind weren’t already made up about things? What might I discover then?  (openness)

What more could be possible if I stopped fighting with life, and didn’t need to impose my will?  (acceptance)

What if I trusted my inner voice to guide me instead of my old [unconscious] thought patterns?  (awareness)

What if I didn’t have to know how it would work out, but rather know that it would work out?  (trust)

What if there really were an underlying order to life? Am I willing to step into its flow?  (courage)

What if I allowed opportunity to show up when conditions allow, not when I force it with my will?  (patience)

What if I could really live with these questions, every day, as a new way of being?  (practice)

Life lessons from nature:  We’re biologically wired to search for truth, yet it seems we’re culturally wired to deny what we find. The major obstacle seems to be that we fear the crumbling of what we previously “knew.” Despite knowing our world is uncertain by nature, we cling to a perception of its certainty, as if it formed the very ground on which we walk (which isn’t so certain either, it turns out). Critical thinking invites (as does nature) a new – positive & healthy – relationship with uncertainty. Our programmed minds hate this, and … unless “taught” a new approach through conscious awareness and practice … will stop us at every turn. And we miss that.

Book of the month: Don’t Believe Everything You Think, by Joseph Nguyen. Thinking is the cause of suffering. His big distinction. Thoughts are the raw materials of how we see the world … observations, insights. Thinking is the judgment/opinion we have about our thoughts. Example: Thought: it’s raining. Thinking; my day is ruined. Processing each thought consumes huge energy … and that’s often based in our own often-unacknowledged fears.   

Openings to New Possibility -- at The Road Not Taken: “As way leads on to way” (thank you, Robert Frost!), I will still post new stuff on my website. I’m always available for a coaching conversation that might just change your life path in a most meaningful and powerful way. And I will always live my belief that “none but ourselves can free our minds,” (thank you, Bob Marley!) … it’s just that sometimes, we need a bit of help to do that. 

If you’d like more depth on critical thinking, see two articles on my website: “A Case Study in Critical Thinking, “ and  “Thinking, Self-Trust and the Search for Truth.” (found under Writings/Articles at www.roadnottaken.com)

And … as the Purposeful Wanderings chapter closes … if you’d like to have all 25 years of these monthly articles as a single pdf file, it’s available on my website for $50.  I have added to that file the separate articles I’ve posted over the years as well, including the two referenced above.

With gratitude,

Brad