The meaning of political science is often restricted to the state, government, and everyday politics. However, it goes beyond that. We as humans share various relationships. What do we do when conflicts arise in these relationships? How do we resolve them? The Socratic dialectical method or Habermas’ idea of deliberation provides a solution. It says conflicts are better resolved through dialogue rather than domination. Hence, it tells us how to talk in a dialectical manner. It is the process of reasoning together. For instance, when your father asks you to aim for a government job, but you want to become a content creator, you do not totally oppose each other. Instead, you engage rationally: Why is a government job important? Maybe because it provides security and financial stability. But being a content creator might give you creative freedom. So you decide to take a government job but also start your creator journey simultaneously — maybe by vlogging your day as a government employee...
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| Source- istock |
By Satyansh Verma
The potential of the human brain can be assessed by the level of development humans have made, specifically the technological advancements and the ocean of literature written but sometimes they are ready to take their own lives. This sums up the possibilities of the human brain. Hence, thinking in itself is not a bad thing. In fact, had I not had the capability to think I would not have been writing this essay. It is the extent that matters. Sliding on the extremes is always dangerous for anything. That is the reason it is always suggested to make a balance. Someone who learned the art of making a balance has learned how to live a life. Overthinking is developing into a very serious problem. However, it has always been a problem. That is why it is always told to live in the present because that won’t give enough space to our mind to overthink. Overthinking also shows us the capability of the human brain and the wonders it could do. Unfortunately with overthinking the quality of the brain which could be used for other purposes is hindered and stuck up in the continuous loop of thinking.
Meaning of a land of overthinkers
It is an imagined state where overthinkers would be in the majority. It is to show how that state would function, its prospective dangers, and techniques they would use to handle these vast numbers of overthinkers. A lesson can also be drawn if the problem of overthinking keeps on growing. The solution which would be taken then can be started to be taken now. Though the article is dealing primarily with overthinking, it takes into account all the mental problems.
Getting away from reality
What do overthinkers do? The very first thing the person says to an overthinker is that please do not think much. No one in this world likes to overthink. Overthinking is such a negative activity that it happens automatically and the person won’t even be able to know that they have been overthinking. In that way, they get away from reality and caught up in their own thinking. That thinking provides them with a whole different imagination to feed upon which is not even real. It is in the brain only. Coming to reality through any practice is very necessary. It is called grounding. If the overthinker does not stop overthinking about any specific issue it is possible that they would start believing those thoughts that are actually not real and start living their life in accordance with those thoughts. It makes their life more miserable because that thought is mostly a negative thought and living on it is really a very bad thing. Overthinking can be stopped the moment it is noticed but not letting it germinate at the first instance is a very difficult task to do. That would happen only when we are living in the present and are free from the baggage of the past and the future.
Prospective danger
A land full of overthinkers can be a dangerous place. If one is continuously engaged in overthinking that means it would negatively impact the productivity of people engaged in any job. It is not completely true about those who are passionate about something and know their interests. However, most people do not know about their interests and live an ordinary life engaged in any job to fulfil their stomach. In addition to this if people are not stopped at the right time from overthinking it can become chronic and can possibly lead to depression or other mental illness issues. A depressed person would start feeling that everything is meaningless. They won’t even consider the point of living thereby increasing the number of suicide. We already have a very high number of suicide cases in India. Almost one lakh people do suicide every year in India. Their overthinking problems had led them to think about all the negative prospects of any situation and that hit their ability to take risks and move forward very badly. They feel incapable of anything and that start believing that things would not turn their due course. When hope for the good, if not the best is lost, the energy to act also dies. Hope keeps us moving. Hope gives us energy. It works as fuel for the mind and pushes us to act. Since most of the people are overthinking then those people would be thinking about all the conversations they made with other people, the activities they did with them, and all sorts of things. In short, they would overthink about all the aspects of life be it their own or someone else’s. They would not see it as it is rather they would investigate it. Well, why did he say what he said? Was his tone okay? When I went there she did not get up. What if I ask him and he doesn’t even look at me, leave alone answer? What if he gets up and slaps me or takes me to the Principal? The Principal has a watch but that watch is not good. I will not take watch in my marriage. Will I ever be married? I am of no value. These types of useless things we ponder over. If most people would be doing this then it would lead to a lot of misunderstanding and it would destroy the social fabric of society. Skirmishes and quarrels would increase leading to the establishment of a frustrated society. Since much of the overthinking is also done about the future people would stop themselves acting because of all the negative thoughts they had. It would damage the growth of society because everyone is scared to talk or work or take any risk. Society would become stagnant and then start degrading leading to its total collapse. Hence, it becomes very important to give the benefit of the doubt.
Individual relations
As discussed, it has the potential to destroy personal relations because the things which were not even said would be overthought by another person. If not communicated properly, that would definitely make the relations estranged. First of all, it takes a lot of courage to communicate about what you feel. It is a very difficult thing to do. For that, you would have to set aside your ego and zero yourself to open yourself up. Not everyone would be able to do it. Even if done, overthinking is not something that happened once or twice which means it would constantly need to be communicated. In that case, it would not be possible for another person to listen to you venting out and talking about negative things all the time. Even an overthinker would not want to listen to anyone venting out to them again and again. This undoubtedly would make people feel as if they are alone. Their non-real thinking has already cut them off from reality. No one is there for them. They are living their own stories and walking their paths alone. This has a possible chance for the person to feel they are lonely. Lack of people who would understand them and listen to them each time they are disturbed to an uncontrollable level. Hence for the individual, it has a lot of negative implications. However, it is not limited to the individual only because the individual is the basic unit of any society and if that is disturbed whole social structure would be distributed.
Full of creativity
It is said that overthinkers are creative people. It seems true for obvious reasons. Since their capacity to think is overdeveloped they can imagine to a greater extent than ordinary persons. Psychiatric illness affects many creative people. Vincent Van Gogh whose painting The Starry Night is very famous was suffering from manic depression before he committed suicide. The same goes for Sylvia Path. Despite being so famous and huge in popularity Michael Jackson was suffering from loneliness that’s why he used to live with his parents. When asked why he does not live on his own? He said, “Oh, no, I think I’d die on my own. I’d be so lonely. Even at home, I’m lonely. I sit in my room and sometimes cry. It is so hard to make friends, and there are some things you can’t talk to your parents or family about. I sometimes walk around the neighbourhood at night, just hoping to find someone to talk to. But I just end up coming home."
Virginia Woolf, Ernest Hemingway, Isaac Newton, Michelangelo, Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens, John Keats, and many Indian celebrities are some examples. Hence, it can be said a land full of people with some or other kind of psychiatric illness issues including overthinking would be a land of creative people. Not to say that everyone would be creative but yes for those who know their interest it would act as fuel and enhance their creative skills while for others it would affect their productivity negatively.
Language barrier
Derrida said every understanding can be a misunderstanding which means language is not developed to the extent that all our emotions and feelings can be communicated in a perfect manner. Sometimes we feel a lack of words to express ourselves, be it a moment of joy or sorrow. Joy and sorrow provide us with a limited understanding. They categorise all types of joy and sorrow into two categories. Despite the fact that every individual's joy and sorrow are unique in its nature. Their quality differs. One person eats pizza and feels happy while the other person gets to meet their favourite person and is also happy. Does being happy mean the same things in both scenarios? One person is sad because he lost his watch worth crores and the other person lost her mom. Both say they are sad but their sadness differs and it is very difficult to differentiate it through words. To understand the difference one must become human enough because it can not be explained completely through words. Understanding emotions and feelings is a very difficult task to do completely through words.
A listening force
As discussed earlier, since there won't be many people who can listen to the overthinkers blabbering about the same issues over and over, a force of listeners would be formed. They would be trained and paid to listen. Their whole job is to listen. If someone wants to talk about anything they go to the nearby booth to vent out. Since not many people in India get a private space to open up and talk about things comfortably it becomes necessary to establish such booths. However, if anyone has their own space they can call a member of the listening force or schedule an online meeting. Hence all the possible steps would be taken to make the listening force accessible to a vast number of the population. The trained listeners do not just listen but they are also empathetic and filled with emotions so that they can connect better with the person telling their stories and not listen to them as mere stones.
Forced to speak
There are many dangers of keeping things inside one's brain and not speaking about them. Too much thinking can lead to frustration, anxiety, restlessness, and possibly depression also. Hence every individual would be forced to speak. That would set them free. It is in another sense what Rousseau said, forced to be free. Freedom from irrelevant thoughts is very important. If one has power over the brain, anything is possible. It is because of mental slavery and thousands of thoughts that people are not able to develop themselves fully. Hence, for the full growth of the individual, they would be forced to speak and free themselves from mental slavery. For them to realise their full potential it is very crucial. This overthinking is holding them back. Speaking about things is not the solution in itself but it is the primary step towards the solution because then only we can understand the problem that is disturbing the person. However, some people feel good just by venting things out.
Role of Artificial intelligence
Among many other implications of Artificial Intelligence, it can also play a very important role concerning loneliness, overthinking, and other kinds of mental issues. The accessibility and affordability of Artificial Intelligence make it a prominent solution in solving this problem. Artificial Intelligence in the form of personal assistants like Alexa and Siri can be modified further and advanced in this sphere. They can be developed to make artificial intelligence friends. It is closest to the individual and stays forever throughout their life. It is very obedient and doesn't fight. They can talk about anything to it. They can ask AI to do anything be it talking to them, playing games or just listening to them talking. From waking up the person to playing bedtime stories, AI can be a friend that everyone needs. Obviously, that does not negate the importance of having real humans as friends but as we discussed earlier about the limitations of individuals vis-a-vis listening to others. Therefore AI can be a complementary solution to human interaction as well as the listening force. It is like a first aid kit that is in every house. For temporary relief to get other treatments AI can play a significant role. However, for some people, it can act as a forever solution also.
All things concerned, overthinking is a very big problem that gives birth to different sets of problems. It must be dealt with exigency. For that, some of the possible solutions have also been discussed above.
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