Ideas
We all recognize the importance of timing. Being in the right place at the right time is key to success. But even if we are in the right place at the right time, we have to do the right thing to prosper. How do we know what is the right thing? It's not always clear which path to take, what to do, how to move. Ideas are the notions formed in our minds, the notions that give us the answers, that tell us how to behave, what to do, where to go. Our minds are filled with possibilities but we have to focus on one thing in order to take action. We can't move down multiple paths at once, we can't be in two places at once. We have to decide. We have to have good ideas and apply them correctly.
One of the things that interest me about ideas is that we really don't know where they come from. Philosophers speak of ideas as the sum of our existence. One philosopher describes ideas as being ourselves, as the selves that come out of us and stare at us. But where do they come from in the first place? Some we can attribute to education, formal and informal, but others seem to come from nowhere. When we think of geniuses, their genius usually lies in a unique idea that seems to come from nowhere. We only know that ideas, the inventions, the applications, the concepts that come or don't come to us at the right time, determine success or failure. The ideas that have led some people to success were probably not unique. The same ideas came to others and weren't properly applied. Or perhaps combinations of ideas produced a different result. Or perhaps competing ideas prevailed and turned out to be wrong. The only thing we know for sure is that the right ideas applied correctly at the right time are critical to success or failure.
I've been reading lately about the surprising advances in the prosperity of some societies that began in 1750. My reading has centered on whole societies and why some prospered and others remained stagnant. I've come to the conclusion that the most important characteristic of the successful is not their raw ideas or even their ability to apply the ideas. These ideas and applications may be shared by many. Rather, the most valuable idea we can have, the most important determinant of success, is the readiness to accept change. It's clear to me that to succeed as individuals and as members of groups, of societies, we must welcome change. Resistance to change almost assures us of failure. I was reminded recently that in 1297 the city of Cologne forbade its tailors to use machines. Similarly, the city council of Danzig ordered that the inventor of a loom be drowned. Similar laws characterized societies that didn't share in the advances in prosperity. These laws didn't eliminate machines, they didn't erase the ideas involved, they didn't prevent change, they simply allowed others who accepted change to prosper in the competition to make clothing more efficiently.
We all want our brains to produce good ideas, ideas that can be applied to good ends. But more importantly, we must be ready to accept the changes that inevitably follow the use of good ideas. No matter how painful it seems, no matter how much we wish things could stay the same, acceptance of change is the key to prosperity for all of us, in our lives, and in the lives of whole societies.
11-22-04
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