Saturday, January 31, 2009

Inclusive Opinions

Man is a social animal. Social: in the sense - one who lives in a group, subject to the demands and pressures of modern society.he cannot live alone—he must enter into relationship with his fellows if he is to develop and maintain adequate mental and physical health. In this process of interaction with his fellow beings, he tends to gain a few things through this interaction. And the one which iam focussing here currently is the impact of thought of one human on the other. From ancient days, Man has subscribed to intellectual thought as a means to improve his own thought process and in the process enlighten himself. Socrates,Aristotle, Pluto all apart being philosophers have imparted their learnings to the fellow beings.



Now when such a learned men discuss certain issues with the people, there is a agreed presumption that the one lecturing knows all and that his word is taken for granted. We have more people telling us what is correct and what to do, so to be happy in our life (Even i do that a lot ;P ). Even if we take the case of how children are brought up, the Parents more often tell the child what is right and wrong.As a result of repeated impression, the child gets to believe that with out knowing the real reason. For eg, One is not supposed to have a hair cut on Tuesday and Friday, If a black cat crosses you when you are walking, dont walk ahead. The work might go off fine.... I can go on and on, yet i wont take the liberty of boring the people who are reading this.



I would get straight to the point by citing a conversation i had with one of my alumni. He had mentioned about the greatness of Swami Vivekananda, and while discussing about him, i asked him if he really thought that Swami Vivekananda had divine visions. His answer was "I dont know". To remind you, i was talking to a person who was very well read and has read extensively on Swami Vivekananda and has high respect for him. Yet his answer was "I dont know". I was surprised to hear that. In situations like this, where i would have been asked a question about my favourite role model, i would have said, Yup, he has done this, and done that. And he definitely is a gr8 person, blah blah blah. Yet when my senior alumni had said "I dont know", he was humble enough to say that he doesnt know about this and that it could have been either way. He proceeded to say that he had not seen it so he cant say for sure, but what he knows is that etc etc... Contrast with him few other people who not only vouch for their opinions but tend to force their views on others. The irony here is the fact that people have opinions, but the way we allow the opinions to judge our life or impact others have a large significance.



Sometimes, we allow the opinions to over rule us with out really examining the validity of those opinions. As a result, we are left in darkness and tend to adhere on one thing. I saw darkness, because holding to our opinion is like being in our own world. When we began to consider other opinions and then examining the validity, we include others in our thinking and hence have a larger scope of things. Whether we adopt it or not is immaterial, but what is relevant is that we gave it a thought. Another thing i have observed is that the so called wise, never tend to enforce their beliefs on others. Where as the normal human goes around telling others what is his opinion and why its is correct.



If only we would start looking at our opinions and also start listening to other opinions,half of our world problems would end. There is an interesting thought about opinions,belief and view which i would share it with you. as of now, ensure your opinions are inclusive of others opinions too and your actions are based on whats best for the overall well being... :)



12 comments:

«AM» said...

My parents told me this when I was in school - never impose yourself on others... I try to follow them everyday.

Prashant Sree said...

@charlie: Good for you dude... :)

Ravi Kumar said...

Nice post Prashant! Just wat I have been thinking these days!

Sara's World said...

Good One PS!!!!

Prashant Sree said...

@Ravi: Thank You Ravi...

Prashant Sree said...

@Saranya: Thank You Saranya... :)

Si_Lee said...

Thats brilliantly put .. my motto in life too .. If i believe I am an individual and ppl shud respect my opinion .. i need to return the favor .. it's one law which is universally applicable

mou said...

a good post prashant...it's true one should not impose oneself on others...after all each person has a right to live life his own way...

Prashant Sree said...

@Towards reclamation: You are wise. Iam glad to have your acquaintance. :)

Prashant Sree said...

@mou: Thanks Mou... Its better to be inclusive rather than imposing. :)

Rajesh said...

Urs hav always been though provoking n this s no exception...as always, an honest admit of how life shud b looked at, building opinions etc...i go wit u..

P.S: Visit ma blog...something unexpected s awaiting

Destination Infinity said...

"The problem with this world is, the wise men are full of doubts but fools are so sure of themselves"

This was a nice post to read.

Destination Infinity