Recently, I have realised something very centrally important in life in the West. Not having recognised this divide between two kinds of people has been really detrimental to my life. Most people believe that reality is self-evident. Other people believe that you have to reason things through, in order to learn about them. The former set of folks just like to chat about what's there around them. A certain subsection of them will be silly sometimes because in their estimation, it doesn't matter what they say or do, it doesn't change the fundamental environment other people live in, daily. The second set of people will reason together, rather than just chat together. And they like talking and thinking in philosophical ways about life. And there's a big rift between these types of people. The differences extend from lifestyle choices, to taste in music, to expectations of what makes a good friend, to any number of different things. Those who believe that we must understand things in the world by reasoning stuff through are what are known as "critical thinkers." People often have a mistrust for those kind of people. One day I felt steamed when hearing a parent who was a child psychologist say in a tongue-in-cheek manner that there wasn't a "problem" with her own children being too smart. But that was a telling little point of humor on her part.

A person who is an avid thinker - who loves getting in there and sucking the marrow out of life by learning about new things and seeking to influence social trends is going to have to really watch for this rift between people like him, and people who just believe that the world is the way it is, and that we just need to get on with going about our own actions within that world.

Plato had a very cynical story which he presented to folks which reflected his very bad experience with this social divide. This is called the "allegory of the cave."

A reader of my blog may or may not begin to take note over time, that the progress of my reasoning kind of comes in levels of realisations - it's kind of like a staircase with landings at various interim points that you can rest on if you wish. I wrote another piece about this difference I'm describing today, when I talked about "nurturer/thinkers" as compared to "posturers." That was my earlier assessment of the same social divide.