Recently a conversation at work,
X: “I will find data to support my ideas”
Me: “It should be the other way around. Look into data and then ideate”

When you try to justify your ideas with data it is not that hard to find some random data that supports whatever you are saying. It is always the problem I have found with ‘intellectual’ & ‘logical’ debates which a lot of people are proud to indulge in. The problem is that logic can be used to justify every side of any debate. This means that logic cannot be used to decide the outcome – this is clear to me. That is why I propounded how weak and limited Logic can be if you base life decisions on it.

A similar situation happens with religious people who go to temples,
Devotee tells God, “God give me x,y and z”
It should be the other way around. You understand, absorb and root yourself in God and then figure out what you need and live Life accordingly. This leads a balanced and Godly life. And I am just sharing an example about the religious folks, I am not endorsing religion because it is one of the most misunderstood activities in the World.

The problem I see in both the above situations is that the person gets mired in an idea. And clearly the idea hasn’t come from the right thinking. If data or a strategic framework had been used as a base to ideate you would not need to later ‘prove the idea’. Similarly if the devotee is rooted in God then there would be no need to go to God and ask him for stuff.

This ‘being mired in your own thoughts and mind process’ is often referred to as the Ego – and it is usually considered a deterrent to success and happiness. Even in modern business ‘thinking out of the mental box’ is considered a way to breakthroughs and innovations.

The way to achieve this are some very basic roots of every spiritual path
A quiet mind
Deep acceptance that ‘I don’t know’ so many things
Ask most fundamental questions
& from here on evaluating a sensible way forward is natural.

Take for example the devotee visiting the temple,
With a quiet mind if you go to a temple and see Gods. You realize that you don’t really know ‘God’. Naturally you are curious about Who/What is God? You think further, you introspect, you dig into history and other scriptures. From here the religion/path you follow would be a much more intelligent and sensible one.

As opposed to this the usual devotees in temples are so full of their own thoughts and ‘knowledge’ about God which is just some crap picked up from here and there that when you ask them “Who/What is God” it will be a Question they have never thought of or will give you a very childish answer. But for someone who takes his religion seriously, should he/she not have given a deep thought to understanding the nature of his/her God? How can such a basic thing be skipped?

Being rooted in an acceptance of ‘I don’t know’ is a great way to creativity and innovation in Business and also living a sensible life.

‘I do not Know’ is propounded by so many amazing people – Sadhguru & Ramana Maharishi to just name two of them. My time around Sadhguru has established a strong foundation of ‘I Don’t Know’ in me and I am most glad of that. Ramana Maharishi has ‘know the self’ as a singular starting point because you can’t know anything else.