The Scorpion's Song

“Here’s another question about thinking. Is it something you can do in an instant, or is it something that takes time and energy? Remember that we said we only hold these kinds of conversations with ourselves when we don’t know something. We may bring things we do know into the conversation, but it’s what we don’t know that is motivating us to think.” “It takes time. You also have to be able to concentrate, which is difficult sometimes.” “Excellent point. This brings me to another group of people, who form a sub-set of those who don’t think. Sometimes for reasons which are beyond their control, they have no time or opportunity to think. Every aspect of their lives is proscribed for them, they aren’t permitted the space and time it takes to think. Their minds are completely occupied by the things they must do. They run from one task to another all day long. They have a set of things they must do for work, and others for their families, and these demands are so time-consuming that this person has no time to think.” “Yes, some people do have to live like that. And the world seems to demand more and more from people all the time.” “That’s how I see it, too. Now, to the last group I wish to speak of. These are people who are perfectly capable of having such conversations with themselves, and have the time and opportunity to do it, but don’t, because they have simply developed the habit of not-thinking. They only act on things that are determined to be important by someone else. They fill their minds with simple-minded entertainments, or with ridiculous fantasies, or both. These are people who lose the ability to think through atrophy, the same way someone who refuses to exercise loses the ability to use their muscles. Could someone who lives this way be described as a free person?” “I suppose not.” “Wouldn’t a person who lives like this be terribly lonely? Wouldn’t they constantly feel the need to be connected to other people, or for things that distract their attention? Wouldn't they find solitude an unbearable ordeal, instead of the rich experience that people have found it to be for thousands of years?” “That seems likely.” “Then, you have the answer to your question. Your mind has conjured me to help you free yourself from the prison you are living in. From an early age you have been taught the habits of scheming and calculation, but not the habits of thinking. Thinking is as much a habit as anything else, and you have been discouraged from thinking in every possible way.”