Six Tools for Thinking

In the process explaining my answer to a question that was asked of me, I was accused of playing with semantics.
This impasse occurred more frequently and I learned that the questions were rhetorical. I began to give up the notion of communicating with this person who claimed to know what I was going to say before asking the question.
This all proved to be rather dangerous for me.
I list the six tools because they are a big help when I use them. What better way to use them than to have an audience while I explain them to myself.

1. You can never know all about anything. [So far as I know.]
2. No two things are identical. [The What Index]
3. Things may act differently in new places. [The Where Index]
4. Thing exist in varying degrees. [Up to a Point]
5. Things appear differently to different people. [To Me]
6. Everything changes. [The When Index]

"When the terrain differs from the map, believe the terrain."
"The map is not the territory."
Beware of secondhand maps
A map is not a substitute for using my own eyes.

The six tools came from a book by Kenneth Keyes Jr. Originally published as "How to Develop your Thinking Ability" and later published as "Taming Your Mind"

What does this have to do with staying sober?

In order to live comfortably inside my own skin I need to see the world differently. The 6 Tools offer a way of looking at things rather than building words upon words. What is the referent? Look! Challenge the map.
It isn't change that is difficult. It is resistance to change that makes things difficult.

To be continued...........................................