Living Among People With Whom I Cannot Seem to Find Common Ground
I have given this a rather grand title. I will excuse myself by saying I couldn't think of anything else...
1
When I see people desperately stoking fear by naming a common summer cold phenomenon the '9th wave,' and the people who are being stoked, I am overcome by a sense of helplessness that leaves me with nothing but a bitter smile.
They are making a fuss about the increase in COVID-19 infections. Of course it's increasing; it has increased every summer for the past few years, hasn't it? Since the 'novel coronavirus' has now officially become a member of Japan's indigenous viruses, it is only natural that it would increase again this year.
For my part, I have no other thoughts than,
'Perhaps many of the 'nameless summer colds' other than the 'three major summer infectious diseases' from before 2019 were actually caused by 'old-fashioned indigenous coronaviruses other than the former novel one.' I thought coronaviruses were winter cold viruses, but it turns out they were summer cold viruses too...'
other than that.
2
Well, I have to assume that the cognitive distortions planted over three years will not be easily removed. As with anything, once cognition is thoroughly distorted, it is difficult to correct.
However, for those who are still easily stoked and conform despite the atmosphere having changed so much, it is probably useless to say anything anymore. I can only pity them and give up on them. Life is full of all sorts of people.
That said, looking at the flow of society, it seems that more people have overcome their cognitive distortions. But having seen the cowardly, thoughtless, and severely unimaginative behavior that many of them displayed back then, I cannot trust them as I did before, and I feel I must not trust them. It is better to consider them people who cannot be relied upon at all in an emergency. For my own sake, it is best to limit my interactions with them to superficial ones during normal times.
Well, I have always disliked socializing, so perhaps it will be the same as before. Honestly, I find it more interesting and enlightening to talk to the patients who visit my clinic, their families, and my own children. And that is enough for me.
Beyond that, reading books is enough.
And those who are still stoking fear are highly likely to be spreading nonsense on other matters as well. It is better to be wary of everything they say and their very existence.
If they have any value to me, it is only as subjects of analysis to understand why they think the way they do.
There must be pitfalls in their thinking that we should all use as cautionary tales, as we are all susceptible to falling into them.
Of course, some people are not even useful as examples due to their personality. In that case, it might be good to use them as a simulation for how to respond if such a person is nearby so that no harm comes to you.
3
With that in mind, I want to keep the following mindset.
The solution reached by a specialized circle is not necessarily the optimal solution for the whole. In the first place, can an optimal solution common to all human beings even exist? Thinking that it exists is the beginning of the mistake. It is merely an illusion.
There is no optimal solution, nor is there an absolute truth. They do not exist in this world. Even so, we must continue to make choices and judgments.If we neglect to pursue the truth that should not exist, we will eventually make the wrong judgment.
That is why we have no choice but to keep thinking. To think, we must borrow the judgments of wise people from the past and our own time, and while imitating the process leading to those judgments,we must acquire our own 'style of judgment'.
Even when faced with problems that we cannot handle, we must struggle desperately. We cannot leave it to others, and we must not leave it to others.We must relativize the situation as much as possible and choose our own judgment from the multiple options that emerge from that relativization.
We must face forward without being swayed by the voices of people who easily cast sneers and ridicule, or those who try to assert dominance for no reason other than their own satisfaction.