Circular Thinking – Part II

Human achievements are undoubtedly impressive. We have amazing creations, great works in music, arts, sculpture, literature, architecture and others to show for it. More recently also in science and technology.

The human mind thus is highly intelligent. However intelligence in us, humans, is accompanied by sheer madness. Dysfunctional state of our minds can be depicted in how science and technology has been used to magnify the threat of complete destruction of our planet. Which sane mind will do that? We all are in one planet. We all have thought across borders and countries the same way. We all continue to thrive for this particular advancement in technology. We all, now, continue to use the same weapons on others who may be matching up to acquire nuclear weapons.

Why do we need these scientific marvels that are potentially disastrous? One reason may be to protect ourselves? Protection from whom? From those who have these? This is the circular trap – fuzzy logic – that everyone falls for. We’d rather say that we are preparing to kill another person than work towards protecting each other. Collective stupidity of the entire world in the twentieth century!

Human Intelligence, therefore, in the twentieth century continues to be dysfunctional and accelerating towards it, faster than ever.

The first world war was 1914. Destructive and cruel wars inspired by greed and power has been a very common occurrence ever since. There were wars earlier too, however, the intelligent human mind by the first world war had developed bombs, machine guns, submarines etc. Really served a purpose, didn’t it? Intelligence was only serving madness.

At the end of the war in 1918, the perpetrators themselves looked back in horror of the sheer destruction one human has caused to another for no tangible reason in hindsight. Ten million human beings were killed, many more permanently disfigured. Never before had a human mind planned such a destruction and saw it through. Little did we all realize back then, this is just the beginning.

By the end of the century human beings killed at the hand of other human beings is well over a hundred million. This is only officially reported deaths of identified bodies. These people lost their lives not only as a war between nations, but also through exterminations and genocide.

You only need to switch on your television tonight to realize that we haven’t evolved at all since 1914. In fact the dysfunctional mind has further strengthened. We carry our violence forward, each of us do, today to all life forms and the planet itself. Ill treatment of animals, poisoning of rivers, ocean, atmosphere – You and I are making sure that by persisting with our behavior – we will result in our own destruction, eventually. Intelligence in the service of madness!!

Just reading the above – if one were to analyze human behavior and look up a medical dictionary, I am quite certain we’ll find a very sick sounding psychological illness encompassing our brains.

Lets for a moment come back to circular logic – I wrote in the earlier article that to get out of circular logic one needs to substantiate a cause – the cause of all of this written here is a ‘evil’ mindset, unconsciously and subconsciously present in all of us in some proportion or other. Even today we have ‘genocide’ in our country as recent as 3-4 years ago. There isn’t anyone in particular who is alarmed by it or is launching an ‘uprising’. The cause is a dysfunctional human behavior. How can anyone defeat a dysfunction by attacking it? By attacking we are only substantiating our own dysfunction! When we attack, that dysfunction will move to some other people and they will appear in a new disguise. When we fight, we strengthen. The dysfunction, the disease needs to be cured. Fighting doesn’t work.

The proof of this is all around you. The ‘war against’ this or that is condemned for failure. It always has been. We have had a war against drugs, war against crime, war against Pakistan, war against terror, war against cancer, war against poverty. How many wars have we won? Crime and drugs, death from cancer, death from one human killing another are on the rise at a higher rate than ever in the last twenty five years. This isn’t a misprint. This is published data.

You see war itself is a dysfunctional mindset. When you are in a war, the perceptions become distorted and then everything is misinterpreted. Its not difficult to imagine the results. Just watch nine o clock television, you don’t even need to imagine.

The problem with the above examples is that it is very easy to generalize and disassociate. Reality, however is that this exists in your brains too. Take a look around. Picture anything that you are dissatisfied with. For example, you are trying to drive an initiative in the board room of your company. There will be in most cases five or ten people present at best. Meeting after meeting you are discussing the implementation of the same objective. Its not happening. Each of us five have reasons. Each of us five plans to counter those reasons. Each of us five come back to the board room with some ‘superficial’ progress but another presentation. Each of us five are in a circular trap. Each of us five ARE the reason. Till you implement whatever it is between the five of you… Expect Nothing! You keep fighting the problem the problem strengthens, you solve the (real) problem, the problem disappears.

Take an individual example, you are dissatisfied with your salary, or relationship or your house, or your job or your career… anything. Get to the cause. Don’t fool yourself in circular logic. The cause in case of salary is either your skills, or your hard work or your stupid choices you made – you can keep fighting by working more in the same way, or fight and blame your manager and boss or the economy and serve dysfunctional madness. The cause in case of an upset relationship is the two of you involved – you can keep blaming the other one, keep strengthening the problem each time you do that – but you can never resolve unless you get to the real cause.

You must recognize what is behind the collective insanity – these are dysfunctional thoughts in the mind – once you realize that the thought is dysfunctional – you have no one to blame – it’s the thought in them – that’s all. If at all something needs to be changed – it’s the thought in them. You cannot fight it and change it. Fighting strengthens and resistance persists. Remember that.

Once you can recognize the thought for what it is – its much easier to remain non reactive to it. Nobody is wrong, really. It’s the thought that’s all. Solution will arise only when you disassociate and realize that all of us are suffering from the same ‘thought’ sickness, some more than others. Then you do not fuel ‘sickness’ any more. The fuel is reactivity. The ‘thought’ strives on reaction. It strengthens.

I was discussing this article in another very ‘indirect’ way in a conversation with a close friend earlier in the week. I was narrating to her a simple process by which theoretically any problem including the one she was discussing, can be solved. I told her that one needs to think clearly to a breakthrough and this is how you do it:

One realize that everything that looks like a problem – is just a thought- in the situation or the person. The person is good, whoever it is.

Two that the problem or conflict can be removed.

Three, not matter how complex it appears, the solution has to be very simple and obvious. Otherwise you are fighting the problem. (For example the solution isn’t ‘war on terror’ if the objective is peace. The war ensures the thoughts remain and strengthen).

Four every situation can be improved.

Five, act on the simple solution. (this is the most difficult thing to do)

And six, if it isn’t win-win, it isn’t a win.

My friend tells me after hearing all this that I am being overly optimistic. I didn’t understand where it came from. I am not an optimist. I am a positive thinker, yet I need to see things to the end before I can begin any action. I might think about something for years before I’ll start. I make sure in the mind all possible problems have a solution. Me optimist?

I told my friend and I’d like to point this out to you too - an old saying that an optimist with experience is either a pessimist or practical thinker. What you will become is your choice. As optimistic as these solutions may appear, its not easy. The other side of all these points is that one can no longer find contentment in blaming others (that in itself is dysfunctional and an excuse to attack), blaming circumstances (that is an excuse for inaction and toleration of someone else’s violent solution), or saying its out of one’s control or ability. One has to take full responsibility for one’s life which may lead you to a full life but never an easy one.

And of course you might have to give up on the greatest pleasure of all human beings, the pleasure gained from ‘bitching and moaning’. The birth of all dysfunctions.

That’s a price you can pay. Can you?