Thought 61: Every decision has a consequence (Continued)

A decision is actually a cause; it is the culmination of a thinking process, ending in a resolution for action. Actually, the thoughts that lead to the decisions are the first cause in the decision chain. Decisions commit us irrevocably to later events in our lives. It is unrealistic to take decisions and hope that we can escape the consequences. Most of us, however, seem to be doing precisely that - all our lives.

In our day to day living, we constantly take decisions - in our profession, about children, about our health, about education, about vacations, about shopping, about budget, about friends, about relatives and on a host of other issues. Whenever we take any of these decisions, it is important to realize that every one of these decisions commits us to the consequences, which inevitably flow out of these decisions. However, when we put our thinking apparatus on hold and take decisions mechanically, we would never realize that every thing that we experience - trivial or vital - is the result of a decision that we had taken earlier.

Some times, a decision on what appears to be a trivial matter could have a far reaching effect. We do not, for instance, invest much thought in what we eat or drink. This is done routinely. A lot of us take foods or drinks, which are known to be harmful. We do this most casually, without any thought about the consequences. We should not be eating high cholesterol foods like ice creams, eggs and butter, but we do not stop eating them. We know that when we smoke, lung cancer and heart attacks are almost certain. We do not stop smoking - not because that we do not believe the statistics on this subject. We some how hope that we will not be a part of this statistic - and escape lung cancer or heart attack.

Smoking, excessive drinking, over-eating, over-spending, indiscriminate sex with strangers with the attendant risk of Aids and other diseases, excessive anger, excessive hatred, excessive greed, not properly maintaining cars, boilers, smoke alarms and similar appliances, in the hope that they will never break down, but continue to function correctly for ever, are some more such naive behaviors.

In all these instances, we do know the consequences or we have at least a vague idea of the consequences at the back of our minds - and we do not want those consequences. But we are not prepared to do the right thing to keep away the consequences. Of course, there is no way to escape the effects, if we do not eliminate the causes.

The next thought is about “For any decision, you need information”