 Thought, character and destiny
Changing our reality can be as easy as changing
our thoughts
Arash Sayedi
December 1, 2004
iranian.com
I'm a 22-year-old student living
in Australia. I write quite frquently, mainly for myself, as a
way of organizing my thoughts. But I thought it might interest
others
to read some of my dribble.
If there is one axiom that holds true in all
conditions of human life is that of thought, determining reality.
Are we not but a sum of our thoughts? Are we not where we are as
a result of decisions we have made? Decisions which themselves
had once roots in the fertile ground of our thoughts? Are not our
pleasant experiences the sweet fruits of our mental labor? The
not-so-pleasant ones, the bitter produce of our own doing, the
seeds of which have roots in our past?
Shakespeare once said; there is
no good or bad but thinking makes it so. Indeed, men of a more
idealistic turn of mind have gone so far as to say there is
no reality but thinking makes it so. Whether the latter holds true
or not makes no difference here, suffice it to say that our physical
reality is ultimately determined by our mental one. And in this
realm, much like the former, the god of cause and effect rules
with an iron fist.
If we wish to know where we are, we need only look to where we
have been. And it is equally true that we cannot know where we
are destined without a sober knowledge of where we are today.
So
many of us Iranians, however, seem to have trouble with the notion
that the current terrible affliction that so savagely eats at
the very core of our society is the doing of our own minds, and
the
burden of which rests entirely on our own shoulders.
One may
be tempted to place the effects of outside forces at the crux
of one's
argument for the justification of our current ills, but should
one do so it is imperative to remember that no winds so savage,
no currents so awesome can shake the foundation of a society
who's members are, as William Ernest Henley would put it, the
masters of their own fate.
Indeed, turmoil in our physical reality hints only at the confusion
and mayhem we are experiencing at the level of our mental reality.
As our great poet once said, we all really are parts of the same
body. So to understand our society better we must first imagine
it as one being. One being, the mind of whom, having experienced
the shocks and traumas of past events, has shattered into a multitude
of personalities, each striving for dominance. Is there hope for
such society so deeply in conflict with itself?
Psychologists assure
us that even the most hopeless cases of mental illness have a
chance of recovery. This is not to say that we should strive for
a full
recovery for no such thing is possible in any society. Save maybe
at times of war when the collective is temporarily unified against
a greater foe. So short of war, what must be done in order to
collect the fragments of our shattered lives and hope to mend together
the four corners of our great land now threatened by every ill
imaginable?
Psychologists believe that the best and most effective means
of combating a negative habit, or any destructive pattern of thought
for that matter, is not by saddling up in a crusade against the
perpetrator, whereby constantly dwelling upon it and as a direct
result further feeding it, but rather by simply replacing it with
fresh seeds of thought, which in time will come to fruition and
hence dominate the old, outdated patterns.
 To suggest the new philosophies and ways of thinking we need
to adopt for ourselves today is not the burden of this text. I
leave that part to souls wiser than myself. But the chief aim here
is to point out the necessity for a new philosophy that is closely
adapted to our nature, is fully conscious of our turbulent past
and is no less aware of our needs for the future. A philosophy
that is both practical and closely related to nature itself. One
that does not exclude the needs of the masses and does not limit
the luxury of the fruits of its labor to a close circle of intellectuals.
A new philosophy that strives to find balance in our physical,
spiritual and mental lives.Whatever the new philosophy may be,
it must strive to cheer up in us an attitude of greatness, of self
confidence and a sense of being in control of our own destiny.
It does not matter how short of greatness we have fallen, for we
can think ourselves into glory once again. And for those in disagreement
with this, remains the solemn inescapable fact that no matter what
the change, it must, and indeed always does, originate in the realm
of thought.
Whatever this new outlook, it must replace toxic ideologies
that have us believe that no matter how hard we try, at the end
it is "god" that determines who should eat and who should
go hungry. Such philosophies have no place in the minds of intelligent
men and women. Such ways of thinking that claim; no matter what
we do, at the end it is "god's" will that will prevail,
seek to undermine men's intelligence and rob them of their self
worth thereby lowering them to the level of animals. It is this
same way of thinking that has transformed the once energetic people
of Iran into a backward flock of self hating automatons.
We are not creatures of circumstance! We are the sole makers
of our own destiny. To quote James Allen, "Man is made or
unmade by himself; in the armory of thought he forges the weapons
by which he destroys himself. He also fashions the tools with which
he builds for himself heavenly mansions of joy and strength and
peace. By the right choice and true application of thought, man
ascends to the Divine Perfection; by the abuse and wrong application
of thought, he descends below the level of the beast. Between these
two extremes are all the grades of character, and man is their
maker and master."
 It is by every thought that we slowly but surely weave the threads
of our own character. It is our character that determines our decisions
and it is our decisions that ultimately determine our path in life.
And our collective destiny is merely a collection of our common
goals and aspirations that have roots in our shared reality. And
changing that reality can be as easy as changing our thoughts.
For our thoughts are the only things we have control over. And
it is only by their careful arrangement that we determine our destiny.
Whatever that destiny, may it be a great one. May the people
of Persia rise once again to their glorious place at the peak
of human
culture and civilization. Indeed that is our future, for history
cannot help repeating itself.
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Thought, character and destiny
