We know that many of our fellow human beings, quite obviously, do not spend a lot of time in reflection.
Because if you really stood back and reflected on a lot of things around you, well, you probably, for instance, wouldn’t join the army.
You would realize that there was a very good chance, especially an aggressive army like perhaps the American army or the French Foreign Legion, was reading that one in ten legionnaires in the course of their career is badly wounded or killed.
So most assuredly, if you reflected, you wouldn’t become a soldier, because you would realize that you either have to be killed or kill some other human being.
And a little bit deeper reflection would make you realize that it’s probably not very natural to kill someone under any circumstances.
So then you, with some reflection, would realize that you’re going to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, and countless soldiers in all the armies of the world have experienced this.
And of course, it wasn’t called this before, it was shell shock, or sometimes it was just plain cowardice.
People were blamed for being fearful.
Isn’t that strange?
When your mate beside you is being blown into various pieces and you’re receiving his blood or excrement or limbs or God only knows what else.
So life would change, wouldn’t it?
But it would also, with reflection change in our relationship, probably to ourself, we would learn at an early age that this is a precious being, and I must really learn to respect him or her and nurture him or her to his magnificence, ultimately.
And I am sure if you walk down many streets in North America, especially the shadier streets, and you look at the broken human beings that are there, these are not reflective people.
And many times, they’re drunk and stoned and altered, so they don’t have to reflect, because they’re just not here.
Now, let’s be fair.
There is a proportion, limited proportion in our society that is not very smart, period.
They probably couldn’t reflect.
And a tiny subsection of the population is brilliant, and it’s probably reflecting all the time.
I had a university professor, and he spent his entire 30 years on one particular chapter in one of Aristotle’s books.
Entire career, because the great philosophers who had come before in his estimation had made an error.
Where they had misinterpreted what the great man was actually saying.
A career, that leaves the rest of us, right?
The 80-85%.
We go up, we go down, we become rich, we become poor, we have positive relations or not, relationships or not.
And quite obviously, many times, we just don’t think.
We don’t think.
Certainly, as Shopunari tells us, when we’re young, we’re driven by the will to life, the will to procreate.
This is especially true in men, for sure.
We’re looking for mates continuously.
But after 30, we can’t stand back, but we continue to make stunning errors, don’t we?
Truly stunning errors.
So, I think it is training.
Learn to think.
Sober second thought, right?
When you go to act, ask yourself, is this really necessary?
And what will be the consequences?
And then once you’ve given yourself some answers, then proceed for sure.
Why not?
Because you have reflected on what you’re doing.
You haven’t just stumbled into some decision and had to accept.
On our second day walking the Camino, the theme was actually reflections, because on the second day, we had initially gone over the mountains.
In the second day, gosh, it wasn’t much easier.
We really had to struggle on.
And it made us reflect on our muscles.
And are we capable of going to actually finish this trek?
Got to be a bit of a fight, inside of me at least.
The devil on the shoulder, you know, or the angel on the shoulder, perhaps being taunted by the devil.
Give up, Leon.
It won’t matter.
Yes, you can do it.
Yes, you can.
No, you can’t.
All those things, right?
But with reflection, you realize that you can overcome.
So I think, say to yourself on a daily basis, when you awaken in the morning, after you say your prayers, and perhaps suggest that it’s another wonderful day, and you have gratitude, think to yourself, what’s my daily mission today?
And how does that daily mission fall into my, perhaps, monthly or yearly mission, and my overall mission in life?
What is this piece of life going to accomplish, or going to set out at least to attempt to accomplish?
Very important concept.
So reflect.
You have a wonderful evening, and you know what they say.
You know what they say.
Critical thinking is everything, and critical thinking teaches us that we must reflect.
We can all learn to reflect.
We go to school to learn how to learn, not just to get a degree, to get a good job, to learn to think.
In theory, it’s a trained science, for sure.
And critical thinking is great, truly great.
You take care, God bless, bye bye.