The Wisdom to Belief in One Self

Aristotle, Socrates & Plato (c.427-347B.C) were renowned shapers of the whole intellectual tradition of the western world. It is from these teachers of inquiring minds that whole generations of societal laws, jurisprudence and ethical convictions were born in the western hemisphere.

 A big part of their questionings and verbal answers were dictated on the premise of practical wisdom in terms of action through moral obligations. They understand what most people forget, that you must "will" the human society to act conscientiously through individual (your own actions) as people are like sponges. Whatever individuals perceive their society to be is what they will automatically follow.

 For instance in places of constant war like, Sierra Leone and Botswana, armed children learn and are expected to take a life if their troop leader commands it but in Nairobi or Netherlands, any human life taken is an aberrant act against God and Nature. These names and places do not reflect any condemnation of their way of life but is a study of how we often reflect & act; based on what we perceive our immediate surroundings to be. In places of moral decay & lack of reasoning, our baser instincts often rise to control our emotions in such environments.

 To control our base emotions, systems and structures named as laws and government are initiated, often with the best of intention, but the noble reasons behind these Rules and Procedures often take a back seat after a few generations when time and situations change and then we have perverse dogma presiding over us. We allow rule and procedure to take over our thinking and sense of right and wrong for fear of doing the wrong thing or the fear of being accused of being wrong.

 Plato for instance, writes in his compendium "The Laws" –Book Seven ;( On Education):
"The State's general code of laws will never rest on a firm foundation as long as private life is badly regulated and it's silly to expect otherwise"

 Fast forward a few thousand years, and in India a lawyer named Mahatma Gandhi is noted for his practices of "AHIMSA" way of life to humble the British into leaving India.

Too often, to have a semblance of peace and prosperity, we start to regulate our society with either fear or incentives and are expected to obey without question the cane or carrots system implemented for us. We take for granted that this is how it is and this is how it will end. We are not allowed to question the authority of systems and in a smaller scale we ourselves refuse to sit back and question the logic behind our own lives.
The wisdom of questioning the rationality behind the systems and behind our own personal actions and reactions evaporates in front of the onslaught of our own fears; the rat race we are in and our own economic and contractual obligations.

 Empathy is lost in our race to 'save face'; and words like 'kiasuism' gain precedence in society. Again, because real world problems are often ambiguous and ill defined, and their context always changing we (the inmates of society ?) fall back on regulations and policing the system unquestioningly because very few role models in our immediate life is seen taking the mantle of Leadership in acting altruistically. Everybody and everything is busy fighting to prove he's superior or richer or powerful. This then becomes the acceptable world view. Thus are concepts of service and contribution lost amongst the avarices of a normal life.

 We are in dire need of a hero figure in this country. Someone all races, rich or poor can look up to. We are constantly bombarded with views of so call leaders who are the bottom of the barrel choices and the evil conspirators of looting for individual gain which many chagrined opiniators say is the result of our own biased selections and that we deserve the people we elect.

 It is time we need to be the change we seek. We need to influence the world of our opinion through our own altruistic and selfless actions. We can start by believing that we too are able of sacrifice for the benefit of others. And more importantly, we must believe we can be the leader our future needs.







Below is an Analogy of research conducted in Stanford University way back in the 70's:

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Start with a cage containing five monkeys.

Inside the cage, hang a banana on a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water.

After a while, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, put away the cold water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one. The new monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attack him.

After another attempt and attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.

Most of the monkeys that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest monkey.

After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been done round here.

And that, my friends, is how company policies are made.

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Real life is more mysterious than Fiction !