Summary of the Book of Thinking - Episode Five
It is necessary to think about the type of work for which a method is to be adopted, before adopting the method, so that an effective and successful method can be adopted with this work, and the similarity in methods should not make people take wrong methods in the work. The method is how to do the work, and it is the opposite of the way, as the way is permanent and certain, or its origin is certain, and it does not need much thinking. The method needs a creative mind, and problem solving is only done by using methods, so whoever has a problem-solving mentality, if he finds it difficult to solve a problem, tries to solve it in another way and does not run away from it, even if he cannot solve it after several methods, he leaves it for a period of time and then rethinks the solution. As for thinking about the means, it is thinking about the physical things that are used, and the method is worthless if the appropriate means is not used, and knowing the appropriate means is done through experimentation, and using the inappropriate means for the method leads to failure, so the means must be thought about when thinking about the methods, and this must be done through experimentation; because the methods, even if they are hidden, the means are more hidden, as it must be experimented with until its suitability for the method is decided. As for thinking about goals and objectives, it is thinking about what you want, and it is not an easy thing, and you rarely find people who know what they want. People in general, because of the "herd instinct" as they say, are dominated by imitation, so they have untrue information that they are driven by without a purpose, while individuals do not have a purpose due to the lack of intention they have. These goals vary, the developed nation's goal is complete satisfaction, while the backward nation's goal is progress, and achieving goals requires patience, and satisfying needs, whether far or near, is easy, as patience for it exists in every person, but other goals, such as striving to raise your position, require time, patience, seriousness in the matter, and follow-up.
Patience among individuals is greater than among groups, as the vision of an individual is stronger than the vision of a group, and the more the number increases, the weaker the thinking becomes, and groups do not see that what is possible intellectually is possible in reality, unlike the individual, who sees that, provided that the goals he seeks to achieve must be possible and not beyond human capacity, and that their means are available, and do not need generations to be achieved. Peoples do not set goals for themselves, but they have goals, which are either to get rid of deprivation or to improve satisfaction, and these goals are actually achievable. A distinction must be made between goals and the ultimate goal (the ideal), for example, the ideal for a Muslim is to achieve God's pleasure, so he may set for himself the goal of entering Paradise or escaping from Hellfire, which, although it is possible to be the ultimate goal, because it is a goal for a goal before it, but because there is a goal after it, it is not called the ideal, because the ideal does not have a goal after it, and it is for the Muslim to attain God's pleasure. The goal must be known before starting and during the work, but the ideal must be observed before and during the work, and all works and ideas must be in order to achieve it. It cannot be said that the goal may take more than a generation and may not be achieved by the one who intended it; because the age of nations is measured by the decade, and they change from one state to another in one decade, and with the existence of the occupation, it needs three decades, so the goal must be achievable by its actors, provided that what is drawn for the nation over generations are assumptions and general lines, and not goals, as the goal requires that it be achieved by its actor.
Superficial thinking is the scourge of peoples, and its cause is either weak sensation or weak information or weak connection, and most people have a strong connection and sensation property, except for a few, and people receive renewed information daily, except for a very few of them, but when people got used to it, they continued it, and as for groups, their thinking is weak in the first place. Superficial thinking cannot be treated in groups, but the level of reality and facts can be raised, so thinking remains superficial but elevated. As for individuals, superficiality can be treated in them by arousing their contempt for their thinking, increasing their experiences, and making them keep pace with life and coexist with it, and thus they precede their nation and advance it after they abandon superficial thinking; because they can imagine a high-class life and accept correct opinions and embrace definitive ideas, and because of the strength of the connection they have, there is deep thinking, but the nation must adopt this ability in these individuals. The removal of the superficiality of individuals and the removal of the superficiality of the nation must be done simultaneously; because individuals are part of society, and society is made up of individuals.
As for deep thinking, it is not being satisfied with the sensation and linking the sensation to the initial information, but rather re-sensing reality more and more, and trying to connect with more information than just the initial information. Enlightened thought is the same as deep thought, with the addition of thinking about what is around reality to reach true results, so you may find the nuclear scientist who thinks deeply about the atom worships wood, even though the simplest enlightenment shows that it does not benefit or harm and that it is not something to be worshiped, so deep thought is not enlightened, but enlightened thought is deep. Deep thinking is not necessary in science and medicine, but it is necessary in raising the level of thought.
Whatever the type of thought, there must be seriousness in it, and although superficiality does not help seriousness, depth leads to seriousness, and enlightenment necessitates seriousness, so thinking about something is either to know it or to work with it, and in both cases there must be seriousness and distancing from imitation and habit in thinking. Seriousness must be fabricated until it exists, and here we do not mean absolute seriousness, but we mean that there are actions that lead to the intended, and at the level of what has been thought about. In order for seriousness to exist, it is necessary to stay away from shyness, fear, and dependence on others, because they all contradict seriousness. As for the necessity of seriousness in work, that comes from the fact that thinking must be for the sake of work in life, so it is not said that knowledge is sought for pleasure, because its purpose is to be worked with in life, so philosophy is not considered serious at all; because it only involves enjoying study and research, while the poet is considered serious because reading the poem creates pleasure and refreshment, so seriousness requires intent, and they only intended to research. The distance may be long or short between thinking and working, but this does not negate the seriousness about it. Thinking must be serious, and not monotonous due to habit and imitation; because the one who thinks like this continues reality and does not think about change, and change must be thought about because the stagnation of life is one of the most dangerous scourges on peoples.
