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So I'm Thinking Too Much...

Posted: 11-05-06

I get told with alarming regularity by friends and colleagues that I "think too much" or that "I'm over complicating matters" [by thinking too much]. This has been said of me for as long as I am able to remember - so often in fact, I was prompted to write about it in some detail for reproduction here on my blog.

It's true that in a social situation where there is conversation, exchanges of ideas, comments and the like, I'll normally try only to contribute if I know what I'm talking about. Otherwise, other than the odd joke or quip, I will appear from the outside as if lonely, left out or just plain odd. But I am in fact none of these; I'm simply in thought, introspecting, and not what I would regard as particularly deep introspection at that.

It's normal for me, on a daily or even hourly basis, to consider my place as a human being in society and in the world. To consider the society I live in, the kinds of humans that populate it, mine and their contributions to it and the very underpinnings of geopolitical decisions that go to shape it; on the train, walking to and from the supermarket, first thing in the morning and last thing at night.

So what do other people think about with a similar regularity? Are they anything like my own thoughts or are they more Maslow-esque regarding food, shelter and sex? Is the level of attention given over to these such that thoughts with regard to "being", "worthyness" or any other sorts of a "mental-life" is flitting at best and non-existent at worst? (The use of the opposites: "best" and "worst" here are of course subjective, I hope you understand me enough to forgive their present use) But even if I did pay more attention to these sorts of things; what I'm eating for tea, whether to buy or to rent, having a position of responsibility in a business and having a family, I would ALSO think about my place as a human being in society and in the world because as I have come to understand, this is what makes me, ME.

So many people have commented on the amount I think in fact, that I have on more than a single occasion bought into their idea to such an extent as to engender feeble attempts to regulate it. But very possibly I think just the right amount. The right amount I believe I need to attain a complete understanding of myself, my life and its place in a human society.

As an achievement, how can you top this?

Abraham Maslow called it Self Actualisation.

Now wouldn't that be something?

Cheers all,
Russ