The only thing that we keep with ourselves after we are long gone is our name and our religion, the best part of life is, neither of it is our choice. We don’t choose our name nor our religion.
I like studying people, know their behavior, their thoughts and love to know their experiences in life. My life is too short too live their experiences and make their mistakes to learn for myself. It’s so intriguing to know that experience is the name given to men’s mistake. After studying people for fifteen years, the first five years of my life I have been a big idiot. Not that I am not an idiot now, as it will contradicts my theory of, ‘all humans are idiots’, however I am more sensible now. This sudden illumination of knowledge that I got for the prize of age has allowed me to categorized humans into four types:
· Those who think for themselves.
· Those who cant think for themselves.
· Those who don’t want to think for themselves.
· Those who don’t care what others think of them.
The world is made up of smart idiots and duffer idiots. The smart idiots use the duffer idiots to achieve their goals. The duffer idiots never learn and are never tired of being push around. The only problem with the duffer idiots is that they don’t think for them selves, others think for them. Their decisions depend on what others say and what the society they live-in, will think of them, whatever happens they will remain timid.
Those who think for themselves:
On this earth there are very few who think for themselves. Then they realize how stupid we were behaving not following our desires, but just taking things for granted and letting others make decisions for us. When you stop being what people want you be and start perusing your own dreams, that’s when you have stared thinking for yourself. Trying to live life the way you want is the most difficult thing to do, you will come with opposition in all what you do. To meet opposition with courage is success.
We come across many people, who, when not having anything to do with our lives try to influence our decisions in life. They might be our family or friends. Unknowingly many humans have this tendency of not letting people to do something that’s a bit different form the traditional believes and customs. The biggest example (at-least in India) is that when couples go for love marriage. No matter what there will be opposition even though eventually things happen the way the lovers want. It’s all I feel to do with the feeling of “I was not allowed to do ‘it’ in my life and I will not allow others to succeed in ‘it’.” Were ‘it’ could mean anything.
The people who think for themselves are not rebellious. They do what is right for themselves, without hurting the sentiments of others. Also taking in consideration, others thoughts and rights are as important as their own. Thinking for yourself means not following someone just because thousand others follow him or her. People blindly follow cultures without questioning why we do so. There are certain reasons for all the stuff we do, but now the reason for doing it is all lost in the complications of our daily life. We just follow it in the name of custom and religion. If we question the people who can’t think for themselves, they turn defensive and not to be termed idiots they say “it’s a matter of faith and religion.” As kids we ask questions, like why? and how?, gradually we stop asking question, and latter we are trained not to ask.
The main reason we stop asking question is that we don’t get answers, then we become lazy because nobody knows the answer and we’ll have to find it ourselves. So we stop asking questions, so we don’t have to find answers for it. At this point in life we start following what other people do and what the so called society follows. What I want to say is well explained in the following experiment,
“ Put eight monkeys in a room. In the middle of the room is a ladder, leading to a bunch of bananas hanging from a hook on the ceiling. Each time a monkey tries to climb the ladder, all the monkeys are sprayed with ice water, which makes them miserable.
Soon enough, whenever a monkey attempts to climb the ladder, all of the other monkeys set upon him and beat him up. Soon, none of the eight monkeys ever attempts to climb the ladder.
One of the original monkeys is then removed, and a new monkey is put in the room. Seeing the bananas and the ladder, he wonders why none of the other monkeys are doing the obvious. But undaunted, he immediately begins to climb the ladder. All the other monkeys fall upon him and beat him silly. He has no idea why.
In a similar way each old monkey is replaced. Now there are eight new ones. None of them have ever been sprayed by ice water. None of them attempt to climb the ladder. All of them will enthusiastically beat up any new monkey who tries, without having any idea why. ”
The above experiment is a copy paste, but it does explain us how we have been following culture and religion without knowing and thinking why we do it.
Mahatma Gandhi and Newton are two examples of people who thought for themselves. There are many examples of normal people with extraordinary deeds but lets just take these two examples. Gandhi didn’t just follow the injustice on people when he was in South Africa, he thought different from the rest and stood against it for the right of himself and others. What if Newton just walked away, not questioning ‘why the apple dint just fly, why it fell on earth?’ Not that gravity dint exists before Newton, its that nobody ever questioned its existence and nobody ever thought over it.
The easiest thing to do on earth is to follow other, follow successful people. It is very difficult to think for yourself, follow what you think and question yourself why do we do what we are doing. When I started questioning myself, I felt we do many things for no reason at all. Many a times we do things just because everyone around us does it and if I don’t behave like them they will think that something is wrong with me. It the same with fashion, who defines fashion? (There are many such examples.)
I believe that the world will be a better place if all of us start thinking for ourselves.
Those who cant think for themselves.
If Mr. Darwin is right, if all humans originated from apes, how did some become kings and how did all these countries come into existence? How, I still wonder, there are many theories to it but no conclusive proof. But all people are so absorbed in their own problems and their selfish world, nobody does want to know. The reason I believe is that the intelligent idiots can push the dumber idiots around to get their work done and these dumber idiots will never learn. (If you are at this point thinking, ‘will never learn’ what? its time for you to start thinking for your self.)
People just get lost in their day to day life style, where unknown people and circumstances start influencing their life. Take for example advertisements, these commercials don’t force you to buy products. Nobody catches your hand, drags you to the super market and forces you to buy a particular product but still companies spend millions on advertising. This is what’s I call influence on people who have stopped thinking for themselves. Life is not easy on anyone, but we make it harder for ourselves. We have stopped enjoying today because we are more concerned about our future. Its always the case with humans when we start getting things easily, we stop appreciating it.
When people stop thinking for themselves, their minds can easily be controlled by others. Who use these people for their own selfish motives.
People, who are easily influenced by other people are never successful in their life. They always try to find refuge by being a part of others motives, unknowingly. They can be brainwashed very easily, so we have people who are terrorists, suicide bombers and those who start riots and bandhs on influence of politicians. Why do you think here in India even when people know, that some politicians are corrupt and criminals, but still they get them elected. Most of us are like crabs in a basket, whenever one tries to escape to freedom the other pulls him\ her down. All never try to achieve a common goal.
Think for a minute, who does the thinking for you? Your circumstances? Your boss? Your future? The people around you? Your society?
Was your last decision, your own, was it not influenced by any one remotely? We are living a life not of our own, our life is always almost influenced by circumstances and people. How many times have you stopped yourself from buying something you liked? From going some place you wanted to go? How many times did you kill your desire of going places just because you dint have the money?
Those who don’t want to think for themselves.
It’s the truth of life and a management theory, people first work for survival, then to make their future secure and once they feel that they have enough, they indulge themselves in luxury. Once they have luxury and things that they don’t need, in excess, they think of power. Last comes charity. I don’t say this is always the case but it usually is. Many on this earth, just some how reach a position of making their future secure and in doing so forget to live their present.
People in this category are wanderers, they keep wanting a solution for life. They have a lot of questions that they want answers to but never end up getting them. They just don’t get enough of what they want. These people don’t want to think about their wants and needs but they want answers, answers to life, answers to why things happen in a particular manner. I don’t know if they get the answer to what they want, but their quest to finding an answer becomes an addiction to them. They enjoy the beauty of life but not their own. I would put scientist and research scholars in this group.
I have noticed myself and also from small talks I get to hear about others, that girls loose their ability to think for themselves when they are in (yes, yes you guessed it right) love. If you have seen a girl in love you will realize it. They just don’t care about what the world think or what’s right for them, they just do what the guy says and think is right. I know that girls won’t agree with me, but they don’t realize it. I used to use this to my advantage in college, whenever I failed to get a favor or notes from a girl. I had a work around, I would ask the guy whom I knew the girl was in love with to get it for me. Sure enough the girl herself would come, I know I was being an ass however my work would be done. Smart me!
What everyone seeks is a decent life and the way we look at it depends on the way we think. So controlling our mind becomes very, very important.
Those who don’t care what others think of them.
There are people who don’t care about the world, well even themselves. They just want to enjoy, however their definition of enjoyment is looked down upon by the socialized world. I would put hippies, drug addicts and those people who don’t care about their image in the social world around them into this category.
Knowing the world and the people in it is difficult. Classifying humans into types is even more difficult. I have tried in putting my thoughts in public. Naturally though, all people could lie in one of the above categories. Your definition of each category might differ. What I put forward are my thoughts.
So into which category do you put yourself? Life is not finding a way around the challenges but facing them. As more you try to go around it the further you take yourself from your goal, when you face it you are cutting a straight path through your challenges, a step closer to your goal.
Enjoy life today because nobody has seen tomorrow.
Cheers,
Ninad Dighe.
PS: This is an old post.. i thought it will be nice to put this in place where all my other post are.. Together.
