Ideas are like the free-flowing air. They do not need you to come but they need you to manifest. . . . Eburuche O.C.Banito
Ideas are the bedrocks of success
or perhaps, the building blocks for greatness.
The negligence to ideas is the negligence to your potential
greatness. I have come to realize that no man has the monopoly of ideas. If
you refuse to accept them, they will diffuse away. Ideas may be minute and seem insignificant to
contributing to your future at the moment but the acceptance and nurturing of
such ideas, will bring you to the limelight. I
see thousands of problems daily that need fixing, that is why this article is
so loaded to provoke you to meaningful and rational thinking that will anchor
creativity and action.
I tell people to think because your ideas rule the world but what
I have not really asked myself is “what is an idea?” The day I asked myself this question, I got
the inspiration to pen – down something that would benefit my generation and
others to come. My colleagues often
laugh at me because of the way I think. They used to say, I would rather
believe in the impossible than facing the reality, but I tell them that
possibilities were once impossibilities and the most realistic of all things
are gotten from the world of the unknown. The most real of all things is not yet
known. It is men who do the impossible that make the difference. Men of difference live in the world of the
unknown why? They make the unknown, known and the impossible, possible. Lovers and darers of impossibility are the
rulers. We don’t live fearfully rather, we live fierce-fully. Everything is
possible to he that believes. There is much to what we have not seen to what we
are seeing. This world will not go
further than this if we refuse to visit the world of ideas and bring them to
reality. According to Dr. Paul Faulkner, a Harvard Psychiatrist, “there is no
such situation as hopeless rather we do have hopeless people.” Hopelessness is a product of irrational
thinking and behavior. On the same vein, Dr. David O. Oyedepo said “subject
your brain to critical thinking, it is not going to explode; it can only
expand.” But it is unfortunate, human free the unreal more than the real so we
live in the bondage of our own fears of tomorrow. The fear of tomorrow is the
denial of the virtues of today.
An indication to the source of idea is dependent on the area of
concern you have. Most atimes, it may be from the level of discomfort you
experience over issues while at the other end, it may be passion over
something. It may be from what you enjoy doing while at the other end, it could
be what you hate doing. At some point in life, you discover that many have eyes
but can not see, even with broadband ear yet they do not hear. That had destroyed the future of many ideas. Whatever
be the source of the idea, provided it will bring a positive impact to the
environment, treat it well!!!! Ugly situations are out there and even within
us, calling for help but we put a deaf-dead ear that we do not hear their
cries. If you do not hear, you can not answer; if you do not see, you can not
touch. How will you then manifest what you do not hear or see? Our individual successes
are sure only if we can hear, see and heed. How do you see and hear? Rational
and critical observation and thinking.
When you observe, you will see; when you think (meditation), you hear.
In my own perspective, idea is the assemblage of useful thoughts
in the mind brought about by critical thinking.
I view ideas as products of critical reasoning because every thought I
conceive passes through scrutiny before I call it an idea. Streams of thoughts flood your mind when you
think but you do not take all that comes to your mind. Thinking is like living in a world of options
and suggestions, obviously, not all suggestions and options will be taken may
be because of their practical mayhem or may be lack of resources needed for
their manifestation. From my literal
research, there are over a hundred and one definition of idea from different
people in different fields of life. In
defining idea, we must understand that it is a concept or mental
impression. It is the most beautiful of
the most possible things created in the mind.
Idea is something such as thought or conception that potentially or
actually exists in the mind as a product of mental activity. Synonymously, idea, impression, notion,
thought, concept/or conception, all refer to what are formed or represented in
the mind as products of mental activity. Among these, idea has the widest range
of manifestation. Human history is in
essence the history of ideas as said by H.G. Wells. According to the Holy Bible,
God created the whole earth and all that is in it by a creative idea and
through the same idea, God created man. So, the history of ideas actually
pre-dates the creation of man.
Thought is distinctively intellectual and stresses contemplation
and reasoning. Notion often refer to a
vague, general or even fanciful idea.
Concept /or conception is applied to mental formulations on broad scale.
In philosophy, Plato said idea is an archetype of which a
corresponding being in phenomenal reality is imperfect in replica. Kant said it is a concept of reason that is
transcendent but nonemperical. Hegel insisted that it is an absolute truth, the
complete and ultimate product of reason.
Wikipedia explains it in its simplest form as anything before the mind
when one thinks. Often, ideas are
construed as representational images which are abstract concepts that do not
necessarily appear as images. Many
philosophers consider idea to be fundamental ontological categorical
being. The capacity to create and
understand the meaning of ideas is considered to be an essential and defining
feature of human beings. In a popular
sense, an idea arises in a reflex, spontaneous manner, even without serious
reflection and thinking.
On the view of the nature of ideas, one view is that ideas can
exist as innate which are so general and abstract. They could not have arisen as a
representation of any object of our perception but were in some sense, always
in the mind before we could learn them.
These are distinguished from adventitious ideas which are images or
concepts accompanied by judgement that they are caused by some objects outside
the mind.
Another view holds that we only discover ideas in the same way
that we discover the real world, from personal experiences. The view that humans acquire all or almost
all their behavioral traits from nurture (life experience). Most of the confusions in the way of ideas
arise at least in part from the use of the term idea to cover both the
presentation percept and the object of conceptual thought. Be it as it may,
ideas are the vital essence for great
success. You do not have to start great for all great
success, starts small. So, no matter how minute it seems today, start from
there, stay focused on it and surely expect your greatness.
Don’t
forget this “capacity to create and understand the meaning of ideas is
considered to be an essential and defining feature of human beings”… H. G.
Well.
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