In his excellent little book, "The Art of Thinking" (1928), Ernest Dimnet offers this thought,
"It is impossible to spend an hour in a room with a man approaching greatness without feeling the contagiousness of distinguished thinking."
He continues,
"Such men cannot always be found, or our chances for meeting them may be limited. But anybody with an average knowledge of the history of nations, literature, philanthropy, or art, not to speak of the history of great religionists or saints, can people his imagination with groups of superior men in every realm."
Obviously, in today's world, Abbe Dimnet would have made reference to the great female thinkers and writers as well, and we can only regret that the bias of his day clouded his vision on this matter.
The idea of conversing with great minds by way of reading and study is not new. Even in antiquity, for example, Plato felt that the discussions, argumentations, and discourses of Socrates were important enough to be studied by those who wished to improve their power of thinking and judgment. On another note, it was not too long ago that then first lady, Hillary Clinton, revealed her conversations with Eleanor Roosevelt. A common sign today that using guidance and wisdom gleaned from leaders is acceptable is the inscription WWJD (What Would Jesus Do?) which can be found in all sorts of places in hopes of reminding the observer to have a mental discourse with Jesus, or with himself or herself about the preaching and philosophy of Jesus, in order to discern the proper path to follow in difficult times and circumstances.
It is not strange that many of us turn to others whose opinions we respect for guidance on the proper course to take, attitude to espouse, party to vote for, or even which clothes to wear. We cannot all have original thoughts on all subjects at all times. It is not uncommon for those of us with plenty of valid thoughts and opinions of our own to be aware that those thoughts and opinions are based primarily on our personal experiences and our limited ability to interpret their importance or relevance.
Having an idea of where we want to stand on an issue is usually easy for us. Many of us, however, realize that the decision we would probably make, while possibly acceptable in itself, perhaps could be better. We even go so far as to say that perhaps our thinking could be better.
This is where education, conversation, and other factors of intellectual growth are of value. However, for most of us, a daily return to the college campus, even if we have had the chance to be there previously, is impossible. Our conversations and discussions are often with people as confused as we are about the world around us and the events in it. So often we think we know where we stand on a subject only to find that a new piece of data, or a night's sleep, changes our opinion. Nor is it uncommon, having experienced one conversion, to find ourselves wavering back and forth on the subject once we have seen that there may be more than one view.
This is the time that it would be wonderful to be able to talk the situation over with a "great mind"...perhaps even several. In fact, it might even be better to begin having those conversations before the seemingly unanswerable questions are upon us.
These conversations are easy to have. You simply go to your local library and check out some books and read them! However, while reading science fiction novels and mysteries has enlightening aspects, normally the great minds you wish to contact will not be found in those genres. This is not to say anything against that type of material. Anyone who has read some of the works of Herbert, Asimov, Le Guin, McCaffrey, or Heinlein is well aware that these people put large quantities of thought into their works, and the thoughts did come from great minds. It is nearly impossible, for example, to read Herbert's "Dune" or Asimov's Foundation Trilogy without gaining some insight into the workings of societies and the fluctuations of history...past or future.
To really get enlightened, however, you will eventually have to move past those entertaining and enlightening works to enter into the minds of great men and women. Don't be daunted by this. You will not have to learn Greek, nor will it be absolutely necessary for you to read dusty tomes penned with quills dipped in ink and printed on parchment. You can pick up plenty of thought on modern topics in any decent library or second hand book store. The author does not have to be Aristotle. The name on the spine of the book may be Churchill, Cronkite, Gore, Limbaugh, Obama, Carter, Grisham...the list is endless.
The issue is NOT that these people are RIGHT...or WRONG, for that matter. The issue is that these are people of thought who have a clearer view of many problems and events than you and I will ever have. They communicate and converse amongst themselves and with others on subjects that you and I normally only get to discuss at the water cooler or at halftime or between innings of the game, if we are not in the kitchen getting another piece of pizza and a beer. In fact, it might be said that it is better to read the thoughts of those with views opposite to your own because they will either confirm you in your beliefs and opinions or open your eyes to a reality you were not aware of. That is what dialogue and discourse is about.
Biographies are also of value because they not only show the thoughts and opinions of great people but how they were formed. Biographies also often show us that the "great person" was only a regular guy or gal who had a "great purpose". If they can do it, so can we.
So trot down to the local library or bookstore and pick up some new thoughts from some old pros. Guys, I also heard chicks dig guys with brains. Might be wrong on that one, but just maybe....
Donovan Baldwin is a Texas writer and a University of West Florida alumnus. He is a member of Mensa and is retired from the U. S. Army after 21 years of service. In his career, he has held many managerial and supervisory positions. However, his main pleasures have long been writing, nature, and fitness. In the last few years, he has been able to combine these pleasures by writing poetry and articles on subjects such as health, fitness, yoga, writing, the environment, happiness, self improvement, weight loss, and pets, of all things. You may view many of his most current articles at http://www.myspace.com/donovanbaldwin where he invites you to join his group of friends. He also invites you to visit http://cat-and-kitten.com where he provides useful information about cats.
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