These are interesting times, to say the least. There are many events taking shape around the world, and certainly if this is a time for anything useful or productive, a first step would be to observe and ask questions.
A myriad questions.
In this context, I’m sharing the one essay that helps me personally to prepare. This is an essay titled “On Original Thinking” written by Sri Aurobindo sometime between 1910-1920. Like many other things he has written, equally & perhaps especially valid almost a hundred years since then.
.. Our rejection too must be an intelligent rejection; we must reject because we have understood, not because we have failed to understand..
At the time this was written, let’s remember – it was Europe, generally that was the world’s center-stage, much like America is at present. So all references to Europe in the essay could potentially be broadened to include America as well to give current context.
I have tried hard to include a portion, a subset from this current of thought to include inline as part of this article, but this was not possible. Every word, every phrase has been so carefully chosen so as to almost preclude any cut & paste with obvious deterioration in the quality and manner of the thought presented. It is 4 pages, back-to-back, but also has some draft versions.
If there was a way to pin up the central ideas from here and put these up at home, at work and keep them at the back of my mind, I would.
