Milgram Experiment Why do we obey authority?. Milgram’s question Why do we obey authority?
We Must Obey the Forces We Want to Command
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Transcript of We Must Obey the Forces We Want to Command
"We must obey the forces we want to command".
This quote from Francis Bacon strikes a very deep chord within me, as it defies our usual train of
thought. We believe that that we have to overcome nature and life in order to conquer them. My first
argument supporting this thesis is that in transforming the world, the forces of nature, in the
extended sense, are matters that cannot be changed and we must , by force, understand them and
learn to use them to our advantage. Simon Bolivar, at the end of his life, seeing how his efforts had
not turned out in the way he expected, said "I have plowed the sea", meaning he had fought against
something greater and more permanent than him, which always erased his efforts.
We cannot overcome the general attitude of people in life; in order to achieve a goal of
transformation, we have to work with the existing attitudes in people and life, and device ways to use
them to benefit our goals.
As an example, mega trends are simplifications of changes or conditions that are easily observed. It
is impossible to counteract them, and we need to follow them if we wish to have a successful
outcome in a project After Facebook exposed people's desire of connection, many ventures followed
this trend, becoming very successful, as Tweeter, Google+, etc. They have worked in the direction of
people's needs instead of trying to overcome them.
My second argument supporting Bacon's statement is in our own transformation; the more we fight
against a non desirable feature of our character, the stronger it becomes. Suzuki said "Instead of
respecting things, we want to use them for ourselves and if it is difficult to use them, we want to
conquer them.", and here it is where we have problems. Zen teaches us to accept things as they
are, and follow their path to adapt them to our benefit. As an example of this, I procrastinate very
much on my work. Time ago I tried to overcome this by telling myself "I am not a procrastinator".
This did not help to solve the problem. Afterwards, I began accepting myself as a procrastinator, and
setting reminders of my behavior; today I am totally conscious of this feature and the reminders are
useful in getting me to address the work at hand and manage the priorities in an efficient manner. I
obeyed nature instead of fighting her, and now I command her forces in this particular subject.
Quotes:
Simon Bolivar: Wikiquotes http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Sim%C3%B3n_Bol%C3%ADvar "Bolivar:
American Liberator", Marie Arana,Simon & Schuster, New York, 2013. and other biographies
Shinryu Suzuki:
Wikiquotes http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shunryu_Suzuki http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Shunryu_Suzuki,
"Zen Mind, Beginners Mind", Shunryu Suzuki, Weatherhill, New York & Tokyo, 2000