'It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought
without accepting it'
Aristotle
Just think about these thoughts: the
world is flat; human beings cannot fly; a piece of iron cannot float on water;
we cannot speak through wires'.....
What happened to all these thoughts which everyone believed to be true
and indisputable? You read the life history of achievers and you will
understand how they fought against popular opinions. Everyone around Albert
Einstein said he is dull and will not improve. His employer sacked him. According
to his younger sister Maja, Einstein had such difficulty with language that
those around him feared he would never learn. At the time when Einstein lived
there were 'popular' and 'accepted theories about light, matter, gravity, space
and time. But Einstein had his own!
We have to believe that we have a free and independent will and we are
entitled to our own views which may not be the same with others. We are not in
a popularity game. People may even ridicule us when we express our views. This
is what happened to Galileo.
But we should listen to the views of others. We need not believe them to
be true. What is required is our ability to analyse and come to our own
conclusion.
Only education will give us this insight!
N C Sridharan
www.thetimefoundation.com
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