Friday, 17 October 2008

Philosophical Thought for the Day

I have a theory that people will become what they aspire to be.

Not in the basic sense of "I want to become a cleaner when I grow up" though. There's no aspiration whatsoever in that.

I mean that whatever a person is lacking...that is what they aspire to achieve. And that is exactly what they will end up doing for the rest of their lives. Trying to fix it. Trying to chase after it. Trying to come as close as they can to it.

If a person was insecure...they would end up becoming a psychologist.
If a person wanted to feel loved and welcomed by other people...they would become an event manager or organiser.

If a person wanted to understand the mysteries of the universe...they would become a scientist.

Just things like that. And I've heard of instances where insecure people have become psychologists. I wonder whether that's actually a good thing, many times. How can someone, insecure of themselves ever help me out of my OWN psychological problems and insecurities?? Yet, I find that sometimes, these are the best people for the job. Because they aspire to cure themselves of their insecurities, and therefore they in turn can help others more easily.

I find myself doing that as well, in many ways. My own travelling has made me...alone. Striving for information. Looking for new places to fit into. To belong to a culture. To discover new things, whilst trying to blend in with what I once knew. To continue to travel. I wanted to become an archaeologist, initially. That incorporated my need to discover, the need to travel, and my need to blend in with the past and a particular culture surprisingly well. Then I wanted to become a journalist. Then I wanted to become psychologist for a time [possibly during my own insecure pre-teen years]. Now, I aim to become a teacher. Or possibly a hotel manager. Perhaps an air hostess. Or even own my own business. In one way or another, all these occupations have incorporated the thrill of the discovery, the adventure of travel, the influence of the past, and the acceptance of other cultures. [then again, my quest for a mono-cultural lifestyle is in itself, also part of the thrill of discovery, and the acceptance of other cultures]

Even in Chinese/Japanese/Korean cultures, we are somehow well known for having amazing drawings [think anime - Lord only knows why], and I believe that it is because of our intristic passion for the sciences that makes us so keen on discovering the artistic side of our identities. Japan and China notably, have been undergoing industrialisation for so long that, artistically, they've never really been able to contribute much to their cultural identities.
In India, their life is steeped into the arts, culture and superstition. They have hundreds of gods, all with their own obscure way of controlling the world. Yet, how is it really controlled? How does it work? Why does it work that way? If we look closely at India, we notice that the passion is with the sciences and the mathematics because they strive for a clear idea and knowledge of things around them. One look at their universities and their medicine degrees is all we need to see and know. XD

But that's my idea. That we aspire to achieve what we lack, and we do so for the rest of our lives...whether we do it knowingly or unknowingly. =)

Mishy <3

2 comments:

Amirah said...

Psychologists - if they are insecure, they will actually know how their patients (is that what you call them? clients?!) feel so they know what to do. instead of saying, "how does that make you feel?" and stroking their chins! :P

I'd like to hear your theory on why I want to save the world - haha. Awesome figure-outing though! I'm going to Sabah today! wooooo :)

Michelle said...

LOL. Psychologists are weird, I reckon. I've never really understood how they can help people if they can't help themselves!
Hmmm...you want to save the world because...
heh, this is a hard one. XD Come back to that.
Are you back from Sabah yet?