Thinking and Objectivity (#39)

A nice little breeze woke me up from slumber. It was slumber not of the body, but of the mind. Softly shaken by the gentle stroke, the mind began to wander a bit before gaining a sense of direction. It started to see things in a way that it failed to see before. It made me wonder - how much do I miss to see what lies before me every moment? The mind then slipped into a mode of reflection. Lucid, clear, and poignant thoughts passed by in measured pace. And as they passed, the mind slowed and the breath deepened. A kind of bliss hard to describe surfaced from nowhere. This lasted merely for moments. But within those, it felt as though I were eternity.

Life is motion. It is a movement of events, ideas, experiences, emotions, decisions and many more. In reality, life is only a passing of frames - frames of that abstract thing called time. And often we forget this fact. We believe everything we hear and everything we see. Starting from our very selves, we believe these as absolute. But truth be told, the world functions because of this assumption - although it is logically fallacious.

Lets de-philosophise and shift to tangibles.

A successful life - personal or professional, is described as being a culmination of a specific set of attributes. This includes values, and virtues such as diligence, expertise, discipline, patience, and a few others. In these few others, 'objectivity' also finds its place. If you look into all these attributes closely, you will find that all of them are interdependent (or inter-related).

For instance, one cannot be diligent without being patient. One cannot be patient without being disciplined, and so on. But 'being objective' transcends them all. It is like others, a dependent attribute in some measure. But somewhere objectivity also stands by itself. I draw this distinction because it is by far the most common word in our professional parlance. But it is also a virtue or attribute that is hard to find.

Objectivity, like many other virtues, is not a practice. It is an understanding. An understanding that is borne out of seeing things as they are. To see things as they are - requires a certain mindset. And that mindset can be achieved only by removing all that is blocking our view. It is like removing the dust in our glasses. Unless removed, the dust will disrupt our vision - making us miss what is there and see things that aren't there.

Unlike dust that can be cleaned with a simple wipe of cloth, the conditionings in our mind cannot be removed easily. But what is this conditioning? one may be tempted to ask.

Our approach to anything in life is governed by a set of beliefs, desires, and habits. We pick these up from our surroundings, the culture we are born into, and the family we inherit; these decide who we are and how we think. And when I observe myself closely, all my major life decisions that I thought I took on my own were really an outcome of these influences.

'Independent thinking' is a myth - in fact all thinking is always dependent.

Sometimes we get to find the source, many times we don't. But the truth of it doesn't change. And 'dependent thinking' is not wrong. It is in fact an honest, and sincere way to express ourselves and our thinking process. I think depending on where I come from, what I want to achieve, and how I have lived so far.

If you observe closely, the next time someone asks you to think independently, understand that he want you to think depending on him. A better way to advise would be to use the phrase, 'think objectively'. But one can say that only if one has a genuine interest to help.

Objectivity requires us to be aware of our own limitations. For instance, I may have a deep-rooted desire to succeed in a given project at work. I am aware that a lot about my future runs on me being successful in this endeavour. But keeping that aside, I also realise that the project at hand is laden with high risks, and chances of success are bleak. I know that I can try to succeed but there is no guarantee. I still try to do my best - do what I ought to do. And I am open to either of the two outcomes - without fear or apprehension. That is objectivity.'

A truly objective mind will be accepting of any eventuality. It will see facts as what they are - facts. It will ensure that its conditionings don't obliterate its view. It will accept success and failure with equanimity.

Many mistake equanimity of mind to diffidence, a certain dearth of spirit. That is an incorrect way to see it. In fact, a mind that is equanimous has a steady flow of enthusiasm that never dies. It keeps flowing despite hurdles, and in its flow, it creates value; for itself and all those around.

It is still Thursday for most, but the weekend is near. So here is wishing you a happy weekend!

P.S - Adding this after a day!

Think about the word "Independence" - a general rule of negation in English is using the prefix - 'un'. The opposite of likely is unlikely, usual is unusual, and in the same lines, the opposite of dependence must have been 'undependence'. One may say that the word could have, due to ease of pronunciation become 'independence' owing to usage. But whether intentional or not, the word independence actually if we split it becomes 'in' + 'dependence'. It may actually mean becoming not dependent in a gross sense, but actually in dependence in the subtle sense. And as mentioned earlier, anyone who says he is independent, at least in my own experience, has always seemed to be in some form of perennial dependence.