Meditation
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“To go wrong in one’s own way is better than to go right in someone else’s.” ― Fyodor Dostoevsky
The world I live in gets partly created by me. I am not the only one who lives in this world, I affect other people, and they affect me. For example, when I am polite to someone, I encourage them to be polite to me, even to others. By sharing my views of the world, I can make the world a better place. Do not shy away from sharing your thoughts, even if others do not agree with you. Because you partly create the world, you should not allow others to create you.
It is essential to think. When you think you categorise, some thoughts get discarded, and others become part of you. Thinking is examining your views with the ‘truth’. We can only come at ‘truth’ by thinking because that is the purest faculty we have. Our senses can deceive us, but our reason cannot. The data we use to think with can be faulty, but our reasoning itself is pure.
Some people reason with ‘faulty’ rules, or as we will see, immoral rules. For example, a terrorist may think that it is moral to kill innocent people in the name of god. We think that it is wrong because we have other rules than the terrorist. But for him, it may be a moral thing to do. We, as decent human beings think that a terrorist is crazy and needs to be stopped; we believe that the terrorist is acting immorally.
“Starry heavens above me and the moral law within me.” ― Immanuel Kant
When we have thoughts, we can start to synthesise our ideas with others. So, our beliefs can be challenged by others. But because no view can be wrong and therefore cannot be questioned, our thoughts can only change. Ideas can only be morally wrong and thus purely subjective. By synthesis, we align our rules of thinking with others. Through synthesis, we create relationships, corporations, communities, municipals, nations, et cetera.
Atoms make molecules, molecules make proteins, proteins make cells, cells make organs, and organs make us, and we make relationships. I find it truly fascinating that manifold (particular) can become oneness (universal). When you look at the individual aspects in a manifold, then it seems like a mess. For example, look at a construction site; it is hard to imagine when you look at all the different aspects of building a house. But for an engineer, it is evident because he knows the rules by which the house gets constructed. The engineer makes an oneness out of a manifold. When we look at a ‘situation’ in the same manner as an engineer at a construction site, we can only truly see the harmony.
Thinking is categorizing new things by rules. When we put many things inside our minds, for example, by reading, we have many things to think about. The more we think about things, the better we understand the world. The more manifold we have, the better we can create oneness by synthesis. By reading a lot, you get to know a lot; therefore, reading is wise. However, what has been read needs to be synthesized with existing knowledge to be helpful in the development of our awareness.
