Why we must respect our thoughts

A thought has been passing through my mind intermittently for quite some time now. It is related to something we humans unconsciously practice: control over our thought-processes. Many of us do not have a complete grip on our thoughts and, consequently, are not able to fulfill our potential. A major reason for this is the consideration we give to what others may think about our ideas and actions. Too often when we get down to work, we allow our vision to be blurred by a neurotic tendency towards the gratification of others. In doing so, we lose the purity of our vision. The manifestation of our dreams is then a mere caricature of their ideal. Why do we allow this to happen? 

Who are these others? They are our friends, peers, parents or even just acquaintances. Most successful people have a certain detachment when they are working or thinking. In that moment of deep cogitation, nothing else but the next step matters. If we allow our mind to be distracted by what someone might think about us if we took that step, we have already lost the battle. Hence there is a need to balance how much value we give others’ opinions, with the importance of our own opinion. The need to be accepted must not be allowed to trample upon our freedom of expression, not only in words but also in actions. Sensitive people are especially at risk; they do not like the smallest criticism leveled against them. Intellectually inclined people seem not to have too many close friends. That may have to do with the knowledge that too many such relationships can lead to a surfeit of superficial gestures when what they need is simply to get on with work. They consciously restrict their perfunctory social responsibilities and rely on a few proximate friends for advice and fraternization. Those friends understand them and their way of thinking, and themselves are freethinking individuals. The point is about not allowing the beauty of our ideas to be destroyed because we are afraid to express it. The world will be a better place with more varieties and strands of thought. It is particularly important for a society that holds family to be the most sacrosanct of institutions - thereby instigating in each member of that family the view that they are not as important individually as the family - to respect the choices of each member of the society. This kind of society may unwittingly curtail the freedom of individuals to follow their own path, as it habituates the individual to think first of the family and then of himself. A healthy respect for each individual’s choices is imperative for the creation of a vibrant society. That is not to criticize altruism; it is only to reaffirm the basic nature of a human being: despite sharing the world and co-habiting for mutual good, each one of us is a single, separate entity who has to live his own life and take his own decisions.