Ideas are formed through a harmonious combination of individual ingenuity and social influence. Diverse ideas can cause conflict within an individual, but when they are harmoniously integrated, deep thought and action are born. The value of ideas shines through this process.
Ideas are not the product of an individual, but of a social community. Individual ideas come in many forms, depending on the person, but the ideas that shape them are social products. Society shapes certain values and belief systems, and individuals grow up within them and develop their ideas under their influence. This means that an individual’s ideas cannot exist completely independently. Individuals choose one or a few ideas from among the archetypes to create their own ideas. However, the ideas that exist outside in various forms are not necessarily unified or harmonized when they enter the individual’s mind. It is not uncommon for contradictory ideas to become entangled in the mind, causing confusion in judgment.
The ideas that an individual embraces are often initially multifarious and chattering in the mind. This chattering of ideas initially indicates a richness of thought. However, this abundance can sometimes lead to mental conflict and confusion. Especially in the modern age of information and thought overload, the amount of ideas and information an individual has to absorb grows exponentially, and many people become confused. What is important is the process of organizing and coordinating this chatter into a unified thought. When this process is successful, an individual’s ideas gain depth.
Behavioral human beings allow one of these ideas to dominate, suppressing the others and directing their behavior. They overcome confusion, sometimes with resolute determination, to translate their ideas into concrete actions. Great doers are usually not deep thinkers. Contemplative humans, on the other hand, never come to a conclusion because conflicting ideas claim legitimacy in their minds. These thinkers tend to lean toward skepticism. They look for evidence in many places to guide their actions, which often hinders the swiftness of their actions or even their actions themselves. As a result, thinkers are often poor doers. However, they can compensate for this lack of decisiveness with deep insight. This is where the advantage of avoiding false judgment comes from.
The value of contemplation is that it allows us to examine a doctrine from multiple perspectives, giving us a broader and deeper understanding of it. The more deeply thought out our actions are, the better they will be. However, there are no absolute ideas that can lead us to the ultimate good. Ideas are, after all, relative to the times. The ideas of one era are not necessarily correct for another, as values and perceptions change over time. People usually judge what is right or wrong based on the circumstances of the time or their own position, and expect it to be a universal human idea.
On the other hand, they expect others to have the same ideas as them. However, when someone else’s ideas seem better than their own, they may secretly adopt them as their own. This conformity seems to run counter to human agency. But on the other hand, it is also the basis for universal ideas to be established through mutual understanding. After all, the value of an idea shines through when subjective originality and objective acceptability are in harmony. This means that an individual’s ideas do not remain merely personal, but are enriched with meaning on a social level.
