Page 30 - Deep Thinking

28 DEEP THINKING

many people who come across these news items are unaffected. In gener-
al, people do not think why there are so many of these kind of news items,
or what has to be done and what kind of precautions have to be taken in
order to stop them, or what they themselves can do about these problems.
Neither do people around them think over those problems. Most people
hold others responsible for these problems, employing such logic as,
"What can I do about this?"

Mental Indolence
Indolence is a factor that keeps the majority of people from thinking.
Because of mental indolence, people do everything the way they have
always seen and to which they are used. To give an example from our
daily lives, the way people do the cleaning is just how they have seen their

parents do it. They generally do not think, "How could things be done in
a cleaner and more practical way" nor try to find new methods. Similarly,
when something needs repair, people use the methods they have been
taught since their childhood. They are generally reluctant to practice a new
method that might be more practical and efficient. Such people's styles of
speech are also the same. The way an accountant speaks, for example, is
just the same as all the other accountants he has seen in his life. Doctors,
bankers, salesmen, people from all classes have particular styles of speech.
They do not seek to find the most proper, the best, and the most favorable
way by thinking about it. They just imitate what they have heard.
The solutions found to problems also reflect indolence in thinking.
For example, the manager of a building brings to the building's waste dis-
posal problem exactly the same solution as the one brought by previous
managers. Or a mayor tries to solve the traffic problem by looking at what
preceding mayors have done. In many cases, because of not thinking he
is unable to find new solutions.
Certainly, the examples cited here are issues from which people suf-
fer harm in their everyday lives. Yet there are subjects far more important
than these, which, if people fail to think about, may cause them to suffer
great and eternal loss. The cause of this loss is one's failure to think about