I was reading 1984 by George Orwell when this thought struck me. I had read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand recently and there is this common theme which I found running in both these books. Both the authors seem to be screaming one single thing. Asking their readers to do that one thing which enables them to be reading their books. The thing that makes the readers human beings. They are asking us to THINK.
The negative characters in both the books (I haven't read 1984 completely yet) establish a supremacy not on the physical but instead on the mental aspect of other people. When we read stories with villains who use violence to spread their dominance, we invaraibly come across heroes who match their physical strength in some way and usually succeed in overthrowing the villain by the end of the story. However, in Fountainhead, Ellsworth Toohey continues to govern how thousands of people think. Big Brother of 1984 , it seems, will continue watching.
While a person knows when he is being physically assaulted, mental manipulation goes undetected. The victim does not realise when he loses his power to think independently. Once he starts thinking what he is told to think, obedience in actions follow. Thus, the manipulator is able to establish complete control without the use of violence.
Thinking independently is a right, a privelege, a luxury we very readily surrender. Some of us have never done it all our lives. Parents, elder siblings or "wiser" peers govern what we think or do. Opinions are rarely one's own. If we start examining the thoughts we have in our head, we are likely to find that a lot of them are borrowed.
An area where I find myself struggling to think independently is Books. I usually read famous books and am generally not the first person in my acquaintance to be reading it. Famous books usually carry reviews from leading critics. Add to that the opinion of my acquaintance who has already read it and possibly recommended it. Hence, even before I start reading the book, I have preconceived notions in my head about what is that one thing that makes the book special and worth the read. All this results in a frequent absence of finding the reason why I enjoyed the book or why I would recommend others to read the book or in some extraordinary cases, whether or not I enjoyed the book! I have come across others who when asked how they found a book say it was nice or a good read. Probe them further and you will find them struggling for words.
Thinking. Thinking Independently. Questioning and Reasoning. Using logic. Analysing. We need to do all this. And to begin, we first need to identify the areas where we have already submitted our intellect.
