“Most people
see what they expect to see, what they want to see, what they've been told to
see, what conventional wisdom tells them to see - not what is right in front of
them in its pristine condition.” -- Vincent
Bugliosi
The conventional wisdom is
“conventional” in the sense that the majority of people have already accepted
it as the norm, with the implication that others should follow suit—something
like a blueprint.
However, if you want to live an
extraordinary life, not necessarily living longer, you must think for yourself,
do the unimagined, and create your own definition of the reality for
living—that is, living according to your own wisdom, not necessarily following
the conventional wisdom, or that of someone else.
Life is simple, and so
are its precepts, but living is often complicated and mostly challenging.
It is definitely easier to follow the conventional
wisdom in living longer, even though putting it into practice may not always be
that easy. At least, it has been tried and tested by many, and it may indeed be
a blueprint of success for many if they follow it to the letter.
Ask yourself this question: “Can the conventional
wisdom make my life extraordinary?”
In life, if you want more, you must be more.
You need more than just “think out of the box”; you must create your own box of
thinking—which the conventional wisdom may not be able to provide. The
rationale is that the conventional wisdom may have become a crutch for
countless individuals, who just hold on to it like leech, as if it were the
only roadmap to living longer. There is nothing wrong with that if you are
prepared to accept life as it is. However, if you want more, then the
conventional wisdom may not suffice. In other words, you must not accept the
conventional wisdom at the expense of your own personal growth and development.
According to an old adage, “If you are not growing, you are dying.” So, do not
let this happen to you at any phase of your life, especially if you want to
live longer.
Wisdom is the product of intelligent thinking. But
the conventional thinking is more a science than an art because it tends to
focus more on specialized knowledge than on humanized knowledge in everyday
living. Specialized knowledge focuses on specialization, instead of on
integration; as a result, it may lack the element of true human wisdom, which
is found more in the ancient rather than in the conventional wisdom. As an
illustration, today’s Western medicine has become so compartmentalized and specialized
that holistic healing is often overlooked.
In the conventional wisdom, thinking is now
becoming more logical and less reasonable. To illustrate, there are three
virtues in the American culture: efficiency, punctuality, and desire for
achievement. Paradoxically, they may become the three American vices,
especially if there is too much emphasis on logic and not enough focus on the
humanity side of reasoning. Efficiency, punctuality, and desire for achievement
have often created undue stress in the American culture that wrecks the lives
of many.
According to the conventional wisdom, time is
money. But time is not precious; time is but a construct. Efficiency and
punctuality have imposed undue time-stress on nearly every one of us. According
to Albert Einstein, time is only relative. Time-stress has led to
multi-tasking. Nowadays, many of us are living for the future, and not in the
present. That is why Albert Einstein also said: “I never think of the future.
It comes soon enough.”
Given that it is human desire to see only one
aspect of the truth we happen to perceive, we are more inclined to fashion it
into a perfectly logical system, which we may also call the conventional
wisdom. By the same token, philosophy is not wisdom: philosophy is just a concept of
thinking, and a philosopher is merely a lover of that concept.
In short,
conventional wisdom is based on logic, rather than on imagination. Albert
Einstein has this to say: “Logic will get you from A to B. Imagination will
take you everywhere.”
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
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