Why thinking?

There are special courses on thinking with different terms used. Deep thinking, strategic thinking, creative thinking, critical thinking, lateral thinking and the list continues.

Being thoughtful is important for a person and what more for a leader. Again, it involves thinking.

To add, a Think Tank is a vital component in any team. The team that does the thinking. It could be the R&D team, the Business Intelligence Unit or even Special Advisors.

An organization shall not progress if nobody is doing the thinking. Period.

As an old saying has it,

“Unlike the stomach that will tell you when it is empty, the brain will not (tell you when it is empty)“

Hence, we can just imagine how it will work or how things will not work if no one thinks.

A person can simply take a short break for a meal. As part of a local culture in Malaysia, events must always end with refreshment even though the real need of having the refreshment or meals may not be there.

On the other hand, and when it comes to the ‘thinking activity’ for instance, it may appear a mere personal task. No such agenda in an event where the congregation would simply put to a halt in order to allow the ‘minds to have its meal’. It may also sound normal where leaders of an organization will ‘outsource’ this thinking task to a dedicated team or sections within the firm.

A renowned Scholar, the late Distinguished Royal Laurette Professor Dr Syed Muhammad Naquib al Attas in his famous work “Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam: An Exposition of the Fundamental Elements of the Worldview of Islam” writes:

‘Thinking is the movement of the soul towards meaning’

Truly this is a loaded statement that came from a clear well-thought thinker.

Let us now imagine, if everybody starts to think and it has to be deep thinking. Can we imagine how the world would be? Can we imagine what kind of a family that we shall have? Can we expect and produce the ‘baldatun toyyibatun’ (prosperous state) as stated in the Holy Quran (Surah Saba 34:15) just because every and each of the member staff or family does the thinking activity?

To conclude, one has to learn and have the ability to do the followings:

Deep thinking that leads to the ability to check and prioritise things & works that shall result the ability to say and write only the truthful words.

If all the above are met, inevitably it results the movement of each living soul towards meaning. Hence, it produces different results & outcomes.

The next question that shall follow, what then should one think?

By :
Hj Syamsul Amri A Razak