One would assume that it would be a given than we all at least THINK freely and independently even if we cannot DO everything freely and without any external pressure. What are the reasons for this? What are the barriers against independent thinking? Family? Education? Society? Industries? Government?
Whatever the reasons – the real juice is in how an individual RESPONDS to the external factors. Now, responding to various external entities frequently means dealing with issues of survival or complex social considerations. Such considerations often lead to “postponement” of independent thinking. Needless to say, when you are dealing with such issues, you may not have enough peace or leisure to thinking freely and independently.
Most people are not even aware that they are living a life based on ideas or norms defined by others. If the world has left you alone for enough duration of time to pursue independent thinking then you are among the extremely lucky ones. This has nothing to do with the amount of money or wealth you have. A fairly well-to-do person could be a slave to certain ideas or social constructs and a person who seems to be barely managing survival could be enjoying the luxury of a free independent mind.
This struggle is quite elegantly illustrated in the beautiful story of “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” written by Richard Bach – a story of a seagull trying to perfect his flight against “social norms” – so much so that the seagull is expelled by his community – what happens after that makes the story an all time classic.
The story demonstrates how an “independent pursuit” can lead your own riches. It is interesting that the story is about a bird – an animal – for we are animals too. Somehow, our human has species evolved from battling it out in the forests to creating “civilized” spaces – beginning with forest tribes and villages to towns, and, finally big cities.
As various civilizations took shape on earth and evolved, the conflict between individuals and their respective societies kept changing forms. Some elements of civilization like Art, Architecture, Technology and Entrepreneurship have been providing enough scope for individual thinking to emerge and often flourish. Other elements like Governance, Class Differentiation and Industries are often seen to be suppressing the Individual thought with the aim of benefiting the society as a whole.
Some more elements in civilizations are described here in an article at National Geographic. The article also talks about decline and disappearance of civilizations. Interestingly, it cites the factor of “internal changes” as most detrimental to a civilization. That is the paradoxical dilemma the humans the always faced – how to help a group of people flourish without destroying the individual.
For people who wish to “breakout” from constraints of being in a society, it is a war!
This war consists of two kinds of battles:
- At one level, the battle is at personal level – dealing with your own barriers, blind spots, constraints and demons.
- At second level, you might be at war with the environment! Your independent spirit could be suppressed due to people or social structures around you.
If you are finding yourself in midst of such battles, then this is extremely good news – at least you are aware of the opportunity and possibility of breaking out. This is the first step – choosing to step out to carve your own independent journey.
THE OMNIZIENT KNOWLEDGE ENGINE 