We, the double-thinkers

To having faced an issue, where it spelt – you can do as your mind pleases, but please ensure that 'this' (tiny little part) is also achieved. The only concern being , trying to achieve the tiny little this along with what you had in mind, would actually contradict.

What I am trying to invite your attention to, is the process of double thinking.

Double think is a concept which has the act of accepting two mutually contradictory beliefs as correct. Few examples of thoughts of such kind are:

- “We must act our age; but then we are only as old as we think we are”.

- “Do not take left; left could also be right.”

- “You have full freedom of speech, but you better think twice before you speak your mind and ignite a controversy.”

- “You can marry any girl you want, but she should be from our community.”

- “We must follow our dreams, yet we must find secure jobs.”

- If a person appears as a coincidence we suddenly utter “Think of the devil and devil is here”. While some others shriek “This guy will live a 100 years”. Does this infer that the devil will live a long life?!

- “We must fiercely be individual and yet an excellent team player.”

Religion too delivers its share of double thinking -

- “God is omnipotent, merciful and compassionate but will make you burn in hell if you do not believe in His omnipotence.”

- When a person dies we say in disbelief to comfort the mind, “God takes those into His abode, whom He truly loves”. Alright then, why are we still here?

- “My religion is the paragon of tolerance and broad mindedness, but I will not tolerate you taking advantage of that tolerance and making fun of it.”

Politics is a gold mine of double thinking -

- The uncorrupt politician who finds it his duty to “Truly serve the people and at the same time also has to align with the party principles.'

- There happens to be a Defense department which often plays offense by fighting for peace with peace-keeping forces. A holy war is fought to keep the holiness of peace.

A take on individuals -

- “Is Santosh Pandit really dumb, perhaps he is actually a tactful marketer.”

- “Osama bin Laden is a cruel, evil terrorist - but kind of admire him masterminding and executing with such brilliance."

- “Rahul Easwar is mostly a dumb f**k, but he could also cut right through the shit.”

I normally use a style of writing whereby I begin by first elaborating on the origin of the concept, some related quotes and the concept with examples. 

In which case I would have first mentioned that coining of the word double think had its origin from a book named 'Nineteen Eight Four', written by George Orwell and other details of its origin are blah blah.

Instead, just imbibing another phrase from the same book: 2 + 2 = 5. 

This is a case of false dogma that one may be required to believe, that is if everybody believes it, does that make it true. 

Combine the concepts of 2 + 2 = 5   with double think.

The result: 2 + 2 could be 3 or it could be 5. Maybe it could be both 3 and 5!

Let us say that you finally figured which of the two contradicting statements are correct for your scenario. As per Jungian psychology there is no correct or wrong. Quoting Carl Jung, 

"The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, and not between right or wrong."

If you are not mad at me for forcing you to think, well to understand double think, in fact required you to double think ;)

(Reference: Wikipedia and blogger Krish Ashok's write-up on double thinking.)