The Marination of Thought

 

You know how we think of something on the go. Call it a gut feeling and move on. Well, nowadays, we put it down on paper. Or as the young kids call it these days… twitter. Social media has put an end to thought. I certainly believe that.

The power of a thought is immense. But we need to let it marinate. We need to let it fester in our mind before we make it real. Saying something out loud or penning it down makes the thought finite. It makes it tangible. Final. You let a thought fester in your mind, you let it grow. Think about the thought. Think of the different perspectives. Let the thought be. You don’t share it with anyone. Keep it to yourself. Until you have thought about it thoroughly.

I know it may feel like I’m contradicting myself as I write this down. But it’s been weeks that I’ve been meaning to write about this.

The instant gratification, the incessant flow of random information and the fear of missing out, are all the vicissitudes of social media. I feel that they not only hamper the thought process but holds people back from thinking altogether. That’s why the internet is filled with trolls.

Before I wrap this thought up, I feel like I need to, like always, let you know how I came upon this thought about thoughts. I was talking to some friends, and one of them was a right winger. Is. Is a right winger. But he has no original thought of his own. I have immense respect for people who had an original thought. And when I mean original, I mean a thought out, reasonably justified thought. Anyways, that dude got me thinking. Why is it that people don’t have thoughts anymore? Why is it that we rely on feelings of what is right and what is wrong, rather than have reasonable justifications for our actions? Because we have ceased to think. Today, we blurt out our spur-of the-moment thought on social media and it gives you an exasperating barrage of nonsense that vaguely conform to your initial thought.

I don’t have any qualms with gut feelings or intuitions or premonitions, mind you. What I do have a problem with is the absence of thought before putting that feeling into practice. But, what do I know? I’m just another lazy guy awake at odd hours in the night, typing semi-coherent blog posts into a blog that is hardly read.

Cheers.