Thinking Capacity = Wealth

There is no other way we are closest to being like God than our ability to think and reason. It is our leverage in this life. It is our dominion, reigning secret weapon. Unfortunately, not too many people get to use it. Like the famous Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, Carl Gustav Jung once said, "Thinking is difficult, that’s why most people judge."

How so very true? People are so quick to offer their opinion on things they have no clue about. Instead of taking the time to study and ask the pertinent questions, they merely gloss over "drive-through" biased opinions of others and hold unto it as facts they are supposedly willing to die for. Instead of doing the work to think, they are all so willing to jump on the latest fads, afraid of being human.

That is where the group-think, mob mentality comes from. Lazy thinkers, made lazy by nurture, not nature. For the one who created us, created us "a living soul." That is a breed whose "intellect, emotions, and will-powers" are alive, infused with the power to produce and create. As with everything else, though, a thing that is not used gets to deteriorate.

This laziness we have thus embraced has no bearing on our nature. It has all to do with our nurture, "eagles living like chickens." Rather than taking the time to gather our facts, we embrace so quickly the popular opinions. And, what are opinions worth. You are correct. Not much.

As Napoleon Hill says, "Opinions are the cheapest commodities on earth. Everyone has a flock of opinions ready to be wished upon anyone who will accept them. If you are influenced by “opinions” when you reach decisions, you will not succeed in any undertaking, much less in that of transmuting your own desire into money."

I can't forget an incident where a newly admitted student to my University, was telling his friend the only reason he was coming to my school was because of the riots, what we call, locally, "aluta." Wow! I was amazed.

You can imagine he'll be one of those at the frontline of any riot. He'll be on the civil disobedience merely for the sake of doing it. And, having no clue the reasoning behind it. He is merely a pawn in another man's chess game, and he thinks he is having fun. How so pitiable he is, and the family he represents.

Dictators understand this weakness in man and exploit it maximally. Adolf Hitler is quoted to have said, “How fortunate for governments that PEOPLE DO NOT THINK. There is no thinking except in giving and executing commands. If it were otherwise human society could not exist”

Go check the Ayatollahs, the reasons they sold the people in taking over Iran, and how worse they are today than the state the met.

Check Communism, its ideologies, how it was sold to Russia, its true outcome, and why Russia is only just prospering today. Check the impact of Communism on East Germany and how much it took to reintegrate it back. And, you wonder why some people are still advocating for it.

Carl Gustav Jung is right. Thinking is truly difficult. That’s why most people would rather judge, be opinionated and hide behind group-thinking, mob actions, succumb to peer pressure, etc. They are scared of being human. Wanting to be free, yet so scared of being free, not wanting to carry the seeming burden of being responsible. Not willing to carry the responsibility of being human, a thinking being.

Nurture, not nature has done us in. It has done us such disservice we are at the mercy of the higher animals. How such a representation of human society is the satirical novella, "Animal Farm" (1945) by George Orwell. Truly, as it does appear, even though not the Creator's ideal, but by nurture and sheer laziness of mind, heart and gut, though "all animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others."

It is up to each animal to decide where he falls, in the divide. If you have never read the book before, I suggest you pick up a copy. If you have, but it's been a while, I suggest you go back and remind yourself of the lessons expound in this allegorical writing. George sure did an excellent job of depicting human society by carefully picking the animal to represent each character and the interplays.

The brain, though, representing only three (3) percent of the human body's weight, uses 20 percent of the body's energy. It is the central coordinating center for the whole human function, visible and invisible, conscious, and unconscious. It relates to our past, our present, and the future in an essentially balanced manner. When out of balance, it results in what is known as mental illness.

The brain, as is so visible in the "Animal Farm" determines the extent of our wealth in life. It is our wealth hunting, creation, generation, and managing center. What makes for wealth has not much to do with physical strength. It is not in the place, country, or the status of one's birth. It is in the use and engagement of the endowment we all have.

It is in our ability to think; our ability to envision; our ability feel; our ability to imagine; our ability to decide and stay with our decision. As Ayn Rand so rightly said, "Wealth is the product of man’s capacity to think."

Are you thinking?