Independence
I will tell you why one has to remain completely independent in their thinking and not follow someone else’s footsteps how much ever great that person is.
In general a lot of people, especially who have seen a lot of life, expect juniors to listen to their advise on various matters of life. This is not unusual. Our age makes us feel superior in thought to someone who is lesser in age. This happens between father and son, husband and wife, among friends, colleagues and so on.
It is true that wisdom grows with age. Young people are brash and hurried about life. As you age, the physical processes slow down. The need to solve the world comes down and one starts to accept the world, the people as is. This creates less conflicts and ushers calmness.
On the other hand, there is also friction that has built over time, living this life, listening, answering, doing things. It is highly likely that very few seniors have reconciled this friction within and have reached a state of inner peace. For a vast majority it only worsens.
Therefore youngsters or for that matter any one, life should be not learnt from books which are again recipes on how to do or live or from elders or gurus who are themselves not in a very good state after living this life. Well, as I said before, some may be. But they are rare and few and it is futile to go looking for them. If you chance upon some, then you may be lucky.
Another way to look at this problem is, there may be many seniors who are good at few things. So, youngsters can pick and choose a lot of interesting things by understanding what the seniors are good at. This way, the learnings of the elders or gurus are benefitted from.
It is a lazy path when you tend to lean on someone to lead your life. Obedience can only be true in military. Obedience in the name of ‘age’ should never be enforced, nor followed. If it is done, we will add misery to this living. That is what we have done with all our democracy. Independence of thought has been surrendered in return for a lazy path of existence. Questioning has been given up in return for freebies. Subservience is easy. Independence is hard.
Height of democracy is independence in living, in doing what you want to do. When the environment to produce great thoughts and works exist. There are no wars to fight, there is no poverty to eradicate or dreadful diseases to put you down. This is what democracies should achieve. It is a collective mindset and effort. It is not a machine that will work by itself. It has to be made to work by people who value independence above everything.
Independence of thought does not mean being egoistic. In fact, it is a state where one arrives at impartially. Without leaning towards what one reads or hears. It is a bias free state. It is a state of constant questioning, constant exploration and often gutsy enough to not narrow down to an answer. It is a way of being there, observing things as they happen in front of you without interpreting, allowing thoughts to settle down, give time and space to come to an understanding and then act on those if needed. Above all, independence itself has to be questioned all the time to remain independent. It is living every moment, fresh.
Nurturing this helps you do less. Do what is meaningful and live this life more effectively.
