I think, therefore I am.
It seems so straightforward. Most people don’t even think
twice about it: of course we think; of course we are. But do we really? Are we
really? Or have we come to mistake action for thought?
How many people stop to question their every day actions,
the little things they do every day? How may stop to ask themselves: why am I
doing this? Do I want to be doing this? Is there something else I would rather
be doing? What purpose does this serve?
This failure to question, to grapple with the everyday
quandaries and dilemmas applies to both the large and existential decisions we
face – our careers, our academic choices, and the more mundane things we take
for granted.
Is it any surprise with how busy we are, and with the
proliferation of a sort of herd behaviour and groupthink. It is incredibly
seductively easy to act mechanically, without really thinking too much. After
all, the path seems clear. We know what we have to do. The die has been cast;
all we have to do is act. We’re too busy; we have no time, nay, it is not
necessary to even think. Why think when the actions have been pre-ordained. We
see what everyone is doing, and so we know what we have to do: of course we
have to work those number of hours; of course we can’t do those creative things
we want to do. Just do it. Why think of it.
It’s all so incredibly seductively easy. To focus on the
what instead of the why. It’s hypnotic really. Action makes future action so
much easier. Follow the signposts. They’re all laid out for you. You only have
to follow. And so we “do”, without stopping to “think”, and in this, do we then
stop “being”?
Part of the beauty of humanity is that we can reason. We can
question our actions. We are above base beasts. We can act on more than pure
instinct if only we choose to. But in these busy times, have we begun to lose
that inclination or ability to question ourselves? Have we become too focused
on action to the detriment of introspection? Within introspection lies truth.
We cannot follow blindly where others lead. The truth is, so few know the
answers, fewer still even think to ask the questions. As André Gide said: “Trust
those who seek the truth but doubt those who say they have found it.”
We cannot just blindly act. It’s easy to follow the herd, to
do what others are doing, or worse, to do what others expect of you without
thinking. It is a difficult thing to be a thinking man in an unthinking world,
but we must do it. We must stand our ground. Resist. Think, and so, become.
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| Thinking Man? |
