Original Thought

Original Thought from Immortals

What is “original thought”? How do we recognise it when someone has it? How do we grow it – in schools, business, socially?

In the hustle-bustle of todays mass content coming from masses of people, fewer people really conjure original thought.

I stare at bookshelves and read countless books only to discover accumulated knowledge being regurgitated in various forms, through different jargon to create a seeming difference. But original thought remains elusive.

How fortunate for people who lived in times of such simplicity – no television, no internet, no radio. Just a printing press that was the only source to capture original thought. I call these people “Immortals”.

These people still exist today. And so does the time of yesteryear – but few take it. People nowadays populate their days and spare moments trying to fill their own silence with a constant feed of endless jibber.

The immortals of yesteryear had many advantages. Less clutter. Less noise.

To get that kind of space today, you have to consciously create it for yourself.

How free it feels to be able to read one line of a book…stop… and ponder it until its relevance and intricacies can be discovered for yourself.

And out of that pondering, comes original thought. An advancement of an idea. Not a regurgitated way of saying the same thing, but something that advances beyond the previous thinking.

That is the secret to the world’s evolution we see everywhere and enjoy.

It lies in the gaps between the noise. The walk at lunchtime. The drive home with the radio off and headphones tucked in the back seat. Just silence. This is where original thought is born. Immortals had buckets of it.

Immortals must be cherished, taught, respected and revered for the original thoughts they bothered recording.

James Allen wrote, “Humanity cannot forget its dreamers”.

The world has left behind a documented history of principles and ideas that are truly world changing. And with some time taken to ponder this wisdom, it will develop even further.

Yet despite how profound these great minds are, I do wonder how often we are talking about them? Do your kids know their names? Can school teachers name five success books written in the early 1900’s?

I look around and think about how the great thinkers, inventors and dreamers have given us pleasure. The same pleasures that drive us to achieve and persevere through our daily efforts.

Look at all the things that have advanced us as humans. Look how far we have come in any chunk of time – 100 years, 30 years, the last 5 years.

May we forever recognise and revere original thought.