I believe in the power of conscious thought.
When we were children, many of our parents would sit us down and say, “You can do whatever you set your mind to.” To me, this statement always felt cliché. It felt like an opt-out, like some ancient wisdom parents are obligated to relay to their kids. In short, this supposedly valuable life lesson never resonated with my childish self.
Ironically enough I have somewhat retroactively made my parents’ lesson into a life mantra – not consciously, of course, but it is a lesson that has leeched into my mind and taken over how I act on a day-to-day basis. Despite the aversion to my parents’ teachings, thinking they taught out of obligation and not heartfelt parental love, I have come to value their advice. To be sure, my naivety betrayed me for most of my teenage years; it simply was not “cool” to believe in such a statement as “You can do whatever you set your mind to.” My interests rested in being original, and a cliche simply would not do.
What my parents were teaching me was not some cheap attempt at inspiration, but rather insisting that I use my faculty of thought to examine my own life: what Plato calls the “examined life” in his book, The Apology. They were trying to teach me the power of conscious thought; to this day I cannot thank them enough.
Their insistence that I learn their lesson has led to the person I am today. I decided to major in philosophy to push the limits of thought. Majoring in philosophy has had a ripple effect on other aspects of my life, as I now know how to think consciously and not passively. It has allowed me to think about what I find to be most fulfilling, and to think about what makes me happiest.
Because of my parents’ lesson, I am honest about my hopes and aspirations; taking the time to think about what makes me happy, consciously, has made my life infinitely more fulfilling than succumbing to the naivety of my teenage years.
Though it may be difficult to differentiate between “conscious” and “passive” thought, taking the time to ponder one’s feelings, intuitions, and aspirations is, I claim, an invaluable skill to have. The faculty of conscious thought translates into an honesty with oneself and the surrounding world.
I believe in the power of the examined life.