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THE END-PRODUCT OF THOUGHT
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Ordinarily a man gets preoccupied with the things of the moment, renders himself incapable of holistic perception, without which there can be no real progress.
Four friends were taking a journey together. The three of them wcre scientists, and the fourth one a layman. To be a scientist is one thing, to be wise quite another. The scientists were not wise, but the fourth man who was not a scientist was nevertheless very wise. While walking in the forest, they found the skeleton of a lion, the sight whereof inspired their scientific curiosity, and they immediately wanted to do some experimentation to see if they could enkindle life in the dead skeleton. They sat together in consultation with one another. One of them said, "I'll provide this skeleton with skin and flesh." The second scientist said, "I'll make the blood flow in it." The third said, "Well, I shall breathe life into it." The fourth man said, "Very good. But let me first climb upa tree!" So the fourth man climbed up a tree and witnessed the doings of his three friends. Each one of the three performed his experiment, made good his word, with the result that they found themselves confronting a roaring lion. The lion was hungry and appeased its hunger by devouring the three scientists standing before him. The fourth friend, the non-scientist, wisely kept his perch and escaped death.
We must inculcate a total view. A partial view would not do. If our perception is one-sided and not whole, our impulses and actions and the consequent results cannot be good. Holistic perception implies thinking not solely dictated by one's instinct, nor wholly based upon one's inherited disposition, nor with a view to achieving a particular result alone. Rather a total view would embrace all the three aspects together.
Behavioural psychology commands great prestige today, Man's inner states and instincts are being studied on the basis of his conduct. It appears that man is at last moving in the direction of total perception. A child does not obey his parents, is very insolent, quarrels with everybody, beats his younger playmates, calls them names. All these tendencies are found in him. His parents naturally want their child to be free of these tendencies. So the mother, as soon as she comes to know that her child has quarrelled with someone, slaps him. But does the evil tendency stand removed thereby? If it could be so removed all the children would stand reformed in no time. But, generally speaking, the more they are punished, the more recalcitrant and rebellious they become, instead of being reformed. The children grow worse. Why this deterioration? Because we are solely concerned with achieving a particular result. instead of understanding the child's essential nature. The mother is interested only in curbing a particular tendency in her child. She does not want her child to quarrel or to be disobedient or indisci
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