A Foolish Consistency

Ralph Waldo Emerson said in his essay, Self Reliance, that "a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."   I have always loved that quote.  First, the word hobgoblin just resonates with my inner sense of word play.  And to imagine hobgoblins in little minds reeking havoc and having their fun with those who would remain unconscious delights the theatre of the absurd I call my mind at times.

A friendly but troublesome creature, hobgoblins are fond of practical jokes.   The term "hobgoblin" has grown to mean a superficial object that is a source of (often imagined) fear or trouble.  In any case, when little minds are inhabited by the hobgoblins of practical jokes resulting in fear or trouble, it is time to break the grip of consistency and try a new thought or two.

Seems to me we are plagued with the hobgoblins of foolish consistency of late and it is not getting better.  Why think we when you can simply surrender your mind to a talking head or bombastic politician?  Maintaining a consistent path in the meadow simply creates a rut.  Many fresh views are missed along the way.  As Emerson went on to say, "with consistency a great soul has nothing to do." There lies within all of us a great soul yearning to be free.  We have just to break the hold the tried and true has on us and risk a new way of thinking.

Sometimes consistency has its place, such as in child-rearing or watering your garden.  But even then adjustments must be made for extenuating circumstances or periods of draught or rain.  To maintain the status quoleads one to the box which, in my estimation, we should be striving to think outside of.

Albert Einstein once said, that "Insanity [is] doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  I fear we as in the human race have gone somewhat insane of late.  We keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  The poor soul who dares give voice to a different way of thinking risks being drowned in the sea murky, muddy unconsciousness.  Consistency it seems, is revered because it is comfortable.  Consistency appears safe. It lulls one into a false sense of security.  Ultimately, the security is proven false and the hobgoblin rule the day with "fear and trouble".

What I thought yesterday is may not necessarily be what I think today just as what I think right now is not necessarily what I will think tomorrow.  Yet if anything is consistent in my thinking, it is that it is foolish to go along with  hobgoblins as they lead little minds along.  That will always be true.  Emerson said it best: "To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, —that is genius."

Go on now, time to