How do you know that you know? That is food for thought. When I read this question in one of the ‘Theory of Knowledge’ course books, it set me on a thinking journey. I had never thought about ‘thinking’ until my colleague, Lawrence, shared his holiday plans with me and among the many activities he mentioned was thinking. ‘I will take some time off to think,’ he said. This made me come to a sharp realisation that thinking is not as obvious, and very far from easy. If one is to process thoughts effectively — think through — so to speak, one must set time for it. It was a ‘aha’ moment for me.
Clearly, it is a much needed skill that is taught, either deliberately in a formal class or structured setting or informally through various life experiences. Because thinking is a complex process, is there any wonder that very few people want to engage in it? It is so much easier to go with the flow, to accept the prevailing view points without challenging them, right? After all, why fix what is not broken?
In this day and time, thinking is becoming an obsolete skill, pressed, slowly but surely, away by all the seemingly attractive distractions that are readily available to fill any idle moment, like our ever-present phones that offer us the opportunity to keep up with the rest of the world (sadly, not with ourselves) through WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms. In our day-to-day lives we are busy fulfilling social engagements; visiting friends, attending weddings and funerals, births and all manners of activity. The rest of the time is devoted to making our daily bread which we take from hand to mouth, thus ensuring that we continue in the vicious cycle of need, and constant work leaving us with only time to breathe.
Just being in the present moment is certainly not the easiest achievement in the world. It is increasingly becoming difficult for one to just sit still and appreciate the moment as it is; to either think about what is going on, or reflect on what has already occurred so as to determine what the best course of action is. Staying with the thought until its logical conclusion is just too much effort as there are too many distractions along the way.
One mind provoking question for me and you today is; how is it possible to think the same thoughts and expect different results?