Saturday, August 09, 2008

Common sense tells us that people will make the best use of resources unless told otherwise, that it’s rare that having a chance to do that, people will willfully turn away. However, reality is completely opposite. People keep their minds imprisoned within four walls. They hate, or worse still, are afraid to dream, to imagine, assessing the possible universe, to claim the world that could have been theirs…

People blame lack of this ability on either history (200 years of British rule!) or their upbringing (parents, teachers, etc.). But the fact remains that that is, if at all it is, just one of the determinants, and a minor one at that. The major one is us, we who imprison ourselves, coz it’s easier to do nothing, to sit back and enjoy lethargy. Imprisonment can be addictive. I have no experience but I guess it’s so.

It has repercussions…you can never be a good scientist if you can’t dream…great discoveries won’t happen if people don’t have the courage to dream or to imagine things. One lady in some obscure corner thought that genes jump, leading to the discovery of jumping genes, though the whole world tried to persuade her otherwise!

We deny ourselves freedom all the time…freedom of thoughts, of action, of expression…but the worst denial will be freedom to imagine…

5 comments:

JP said...

so true! but its not the nature of ppl to not imagine or dream. i feel its got a lot to do with our education system and our culture. i mean just look at it... recently a kid told me how people discourage him from taking up ecology tho he is passionate abt it. one needs a lot of support and guts to break away actually. over the years lil things like these build up and people forget that they could dream too. very sad actually.

Anonymous said...

Hey

Great writing. I have added you to my reader. We need more inspiration to keep us going. Well done

A said...

@ Jahnavi: I agree with you to a certain extent...this can/will affect career choices and certain such stuff... but this can't be so deep-seated to have an all-encompassing effect on life...if it's so (i don't think so), it's not just sad, it's retrogressive and devastating. I think it starts in the way you said...as kids, here, parents see kids as extension of their dreams, but later on, one starts enjoying this dependance, this state of not having to think/imagine. Maybe it's easier to be that way, to have someone as a guiding force rather than you being your own beacon

A said...

@ Jane: Thanks.

Anonymous said...

ok, i am tired of returning to the same post.. tell me something about French wine and other French stuff ;)

bm