Tuesday 13 July 2010
Tuesday 6 July 2010
Originality
I don't think that I have ever had an original idea. The vast majority of us are in the same boat, and what to us may seem novel is not and has almost inevitably been thought of my someone else. Someone said that there are only a small number of stories, and that all the novels ever written are just variations on that limited supply of themes, all new novels being dervatives of those that have gone before. Being original gets harder and harder as time goes by as each field of human endeavour must have its limitations. In the early 20th century an eminent physicist was quoted as saying that we knew all there was to know about physics, and of course that was how it appeared before the discovery of sub atomic particles and radioactivity. All of a sudden, physics became the new frontier all over again.
There are still vast areas of science that remain huge challenges and for the prepared mind there is still much scope for discovery and new ideas. An there lies the rub. So few of us have minds that are open and prepared. Modern society does nothing to encourage free thinking. We educate or children to jump through hoops and pass examinations that require little more than memory of facts, and because educational institutions are bound by accountability and the production of standardised products, this sausage production line continues through to the majority of universities. These are churning out graduates, some of which can barely look after themselves let alone get jobs and push the frontiers of knowledge back.
We are so fortunate to live in enlightened times. We have all the advantaged and are no longer suppressed by the stupefying blanket of the churches. Throughout our history those organisations have tried their hardest to block freedom of thought, and have failed spectacularly, with pioneers prepared to risk their freedom or even their lives in order to pursue that freedom. Only in recent years has Rome apologised to Galileo for jailing him for asserting that the Earth orbits the sun. It has taken them hundreds of years to reach the same conclusion.
No government wants a free thinking populace, and with the controlling element of the church losing its power, the media, Television in particular, has been the tool by which we are regulated and steered. I was at a dinner party the other night, where Gordon Brown was being attacked by many of those around the table. Not one of those people had any personal knowledge of the man, had never met him and yet, they were all able to say how awful he was. They were basing their argument on nothing more than what they had read in the tabloid Tory press and had seen on the television. All spouted the same lines and of course will have been led by the nose to the polling booths to vote for the ConDems, and for a while will think that the new government are wonderful.
Many times i have said that I have a yearning to write. I read a lot and admire so many that are masters of their craft, and when i sit down to make an attempt at doing so I find myself overwhelmed with my own lack of originality and so i get nowhere. I have ideas of course but cannot claim them as my own. Maybe the only way would be to forget everything that I was ever taught and start again from scratch; maybe then I'd even discover myself.
There are still vast areas of science that remain huge challenges and for the prepared mind there is still much scope for discovery and new ideas. An there lies the rub. So few of us have minds that are open and prepared. Modern society does nothing to encourage free thinking. We educate or children to jump through hoops and pass examinations that require little more than memory of facts, and because educational institutions are bound by accountability and the production of standardised products, this sausage production line continues through to the majority of universities. These are churning out graduates, some of which can barely look after themselves let alone get jobs and push the frontiers of knowledge back.
We are so fortunate to live in enlightened times. We have all the advantaged and are no longer suppressed by the stupefying blanket of the churches. Throughout our history those organisations have tried their hardest to block freedom of thought, and have failed spectacularly, with pioneers prepared to risk their freedom or even their lives in order to pursue that freedom. Only in recent years has Rome apologised to Galileo for jailing him for asserting that the Earth orbits the sun. It has taken them hundreds of years to reach the same conclusion.
No government wants a free thinking populace, and with the controlling element of the church losing its power, the media, Television in particular, has been the tool by which we are regulated and steered. I was at a dinner party the other night, where Gordon Brown was being attacked by many of those around the table. Not one of those people had any personal knowledge of the man, had never met him and yet, they were all able to say how awful he was. They were basing their argument on nothing more than what they had read in the tabloid Tory press and had seen on the television. All spouted the same lines and of course will have been led by the nose to the polling booths to vote for the ConDems, and for a while will think that the new government are wonderful.
Many times i have said that I have a yearning to write. I read a lot and admire so many that are masters of their craft, and when i sit down to make an attempt at doing so I find myself overwhelmed with my own lack of originality and so i get nowhere. I have ideas of course but cannot claim them as my own. Maybe the only way would be to forget everything that I was ever taught and start again from scratch; maybe then I'd even discover myself.
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