PEOPLE WHO DO MOT THINK

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 1576, 16 February 1927, Page 7

PEOPLE WHO DO MOT THINK

"The Thought of Thought." Such is ; the definition of-the Deity given by probably the greatest original thinker that ever lived. But what is thought, thus to be reckoned the ..mark of the divine, not to be. confused • with anything conimbnplace or trivial ? It is the characteristic form of our , own highest activity, by which we are distinguished from all other creatures. Precisely because we can reason, or think, are we held to differ from them (says Francis Aveling, in the 'Daily Mail').

But do people actually reason- do they think, in point of factp How many really do; or, if they sometimes do, how often? I asked a man—one who thinks deeply—those questions lately. We were in such a crowd as one sees every day in the streets of London. His answer came, cynically enough—" They are thinking of what they always think. And that is nothing." T j"-- i | ■: .■■ ; '■-, ihlthat answer* when applied to others, a bitter cynicism. But there is truth in it none the less; truth enough, to rob it of its barb if we apply it to ourselves. Arid then, if we realise.; it, there great regret and real sense of. loss and insufficiency. For if we dp not state.our problems and think them out for.'otirselvesf wedre' not acting up to the full of our own powers; we. are' not" facing reality as men should face it. ' ■

No.doubt.we .liaye'eXcuSes ready to hand for shirking thought. 'Somereally are not .capable„ of. sustained mental effort. Their excuse is good. But most of us," can plead, no { such excuse, and put our failings 1 dowri.to lack of time. We ftave so little time to think things out—even' our' simplest problems. ' < The whirl and rush of modern living are too swift; the days so crowded that there is no olace left for reflection j, for pondering • over things, for meditation.' There is'so much to be done that Ave havp no energy left to cousidex - - .the _worth of its doing,.; And so we go on in the endless 'turmoil and pay ourselves with ' words-r-worh, formulas and empty aphorisms; accepting our beliefs and opinions at second-hand, not troubling even to verify them for ourselves.'' ■'.:.""•"'-";,.'>■ '.■/■''•: ->^j"■':';; :■-,

■■"Yet all the progress tliat humanity has made is -wne •to thought,, to the thoughts of past thinkers, dead and gone; to thoughts of present,iworkers, laboring obscurely. Tli^ir''very names may be unknown to, ihe .world afciprge, but we are all their heirs and legatees none the less. And we—or most of us * : nothing to the cpmirion heritage. %e take, thanklessly enough and undiscefningly, but we,never give. If we air gave, even if only a little, surely the world, >'ould v be ..less inefficient j than it is; for then we should all be co-operating |or advance.' .Thinking; is not the privilege of "the few. It is in treality; the-duty of all. ~ , • ; Bui there is, a more intimate reason than fthe _advantage of the race and.tlie. efficiency of the world which makers of thought a necessity.""lt' 'is the one' instrument we possess of intelligent living. Life,.after all, is an important matter. And in order to live we must act. But to act—above all, to act wisely> and' rightly—is not always so easy 4 .a thing as, . jnight/ be imagined. For our action may issue, 'not in furtherance of life, but in death. , The action necessary to",life: jntist be ablv adjusted to the moment of living, and intelligent adjustment all round means thought of no poof order. ■".^ It is true ,th'at many situatipns can be dealt with by routine, by"Kahit,'*and;' the like. But not all axe of this kind; and these are precisely the situations that call imperatively for insight into principles and reasoning from them lo conclusions. "And when "these novel situations arise, as they are bound to arise, unless we know how to think, we risk complete failure. We are unable to adjust ourselves to a rational 'plan of life; for we have no plan. \V? have never taken the trouble to think one out.

What is the remedy? There is only one, arid that to ret oneself the task of serious thinking; regularly, day by day, .to set apart a timej however short, for meditation. , . Profound:and complex problems do not greatly'matter. Those are for the experts. / But the simpler things, the cimillion tilings of life, matter much. Simple things,.deeply penetriited,(,S?eii through and through hi-their, meaning and bearing upon life, have always been the pivotal'points of /all sane philosQ.pbyv And in this evel?y man, if he will but soriie of his' toil to.' thuiking.'is bound to, succeed. For all are by nature philosophers, and need only-opportunity to. shape their philosophy.aright.