There is Nothing Either Good or Bad But Thinking Makes It So
Introduction:- In fact, the universe is “beyond good and evil.”
Every coin has two sides.This means that nothing is completely perfect. It has both pros and cons. However, if we think it is good, it does become good for us and if we think it is bad, it is bad. It is about the perception about a particular thing.
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Table of Contents
What Matters is Our Perception:-
There is a famous anecdote that proves this saying. Once a man was going to a new city. He met a sage outside the city and asked him, how the people of that city were. The sage asked him how the people of his city were. He said, people there were not good, selfish, unfriendly. The sage replied, the people of this city are also the same. On his return, the man met the sage again and said to the sage “you were right, the people here are not good.” Some days later another man had to visit the same city. He met the same sage and asked the same question.
The sage asked him how the people of his city were. The man said that the people of his city were very nice, kind, selfless and loving. The sage said that the people in this city are also good and kind. On his return the man met the sage and thanked him. He told him that he was right. The people in the city were very loving and kind. This little story shows us how humans see things with their own unique lens. This lens is their own perception and values. Their character determines how they see things.
Strong Character:-
To a man with a strong character even the most difficult thing is taken as a challenge and even the worst defeat is taken as a lesson and as a nudge to learn and to rise again. Whereas, for a man with a weak character, failure is taken seriously and an opportunity to blame others. Such people find faults in everything. This is how they project their insecurities and their incapabilities.
Balanced View:-
A glass is half filled, it is on us, how we take it, half full or half empty. It is purely our own subjective lens that we deploy to view things. The society we live in has practices that might be good for someone and not good for others. But for the harmony of the society, everything has to be balanced. Society works better on mutual trust. Else, there is mayhem and chaos all around.
This mutual trust is built up when there are no extreme views on issues. Extreme opinions create clashes and destabilize society. Analyzing issues maturely and realizing that all issues can be dealt with a balanced view is important. What is considered good for one person can be bad for another. Our interpretations of events are based on our cultural backgrounds and upbringing, which shape our thinking. Since there is such a variety of cultures, especially in India, there is a vast difference in the thoughts that go on in differing individual minds.
Yes, I Can’ Attitude:-
It is we who direct our life. Our will power and our cognitive behavior decide whether we want to move ahead cheerfully or get stuck in a gloomy state in our life. The positive is the energy and the negatives are the chains that drag us towards the darkness of the past. Half of what we are is our way of thinking.
In my own personal experience, during certain moments of life when I have had a strong resolve to be successful in a particular task, with no fears, I have actually been successful. But in other incidents, when I have carried self doubts, fear of failure and all in all a negative mindset, I have actually failed that task. It is really the mind’s game. If you think you can, you definitely can.
Be Mature While Making Judgement:-
The more you mature, the more you realize that nothing in this world is completely white and black. There are grays in life. And it is important to cherish the grays and embrace the uncertainty of grays. Things are open ended for us to interpret. Society teaches us a lot while we grow up. These social parameters make us judges of everything. We learn to comment and make judgement about anything that society teaches are not good. One of the most important examples of this is same sex marriages.
There was a time when it was a crime. Terming them as unnatural offenses. But the Supreme Court in its recent judgment decriminalized it. Even though society still considers it a taboo. Yet, the change has begun and people are accepting it. Just like how learning is important, more important is to unlearn. To break old behavioral patterns that do not serve us any longer. To be accepting and positive about the changes. To realize that change only constant. And that’s how society progresses. Hence, make sure to unlearn everyday. Spend a few minutes in silence before your mind makes a judgment and categories it as wrong or bad.
Conclusion:- No way does this article consider social crimes as right. Crimes like murder, rape and other heinous acts are always condemned and should be. In reality, the universe is “beyond good and evil”, to steal from the great psychologist Friedrich Nietzsche. The moral we derive from this is that the power to turn around the events in our life lie solely with us. We cannot change the events.
It is only our thinking that we can change. Thus, there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. It is the mind that we have with which we think. If we think and believe a certain way, it is our reality and we are the creators of it. In life we face challenges. If we consider them as modes of teaching and learning it is better for us. It keeps us going and keeps us motivated. Reflect on how you thing, half of the negativity in us will end.
