Common Sense: What Is It? : Part 2

Common Sense, How to Exercise It
by Blanchard Yoritomo-Tashi

(Page 2 of 14)

"If, as one frequently sees, an idea be unacceptable because of having been presented before those belonging to a particular environment, common sense, by applying its laws, will recognize that the point of view must be changed before the idea can become acceptable."

And again, Yoritomo calls our attention to a peculiar circumstance.

"Common sense," he says, "is the art of resolving questions, not the art of posing them.

"When taking the initiative it is rarely on trial.

"But the moment it is a case of applying practically that which ingenuity, science or genius have invented, it intervenes in the happiest and most decisive manner.

"Common sense is the principle element of discernment.

"Therefore, without this quality, it is impossible to judge either of the proposition or the importance of the subject.

"It is only with the aid of common sense that it is possible to distinguish the exact nature of the proposition, submitted for a just appreciation, and to render a solution of it which conforms to perfect accuracy of interpretation.

"The last point is essential and has its judicial function in all the circumstances of life. Without accuracy, common sense can not be satisfactorily developed, because it finds itself continually shocked by incoherency, resulting from a lack of exactness in the expression of opinions."

If we wish to know what the principal qualities are which form common sense, we shall turn over a few pages and we shall read:

"Common sense is the synthesis of many sentiments, all of which converge in forming it.

"The first of these sentiments is reason.

"Then follows moderation.

"To these one may add:

"The faculty of penetration;

"The quality consistency.

"Then, wisdom, which permits us to profit by the lessons of experience.

"A number of other qualities must be added to these, in order to complete the formation of common sense; but, altho important, they are only the satellites of those we have just named.

"Reason is really indispensable to the projection of healthy thoughts.

"The method of reasoning should be the exhaustive study of minute detail, of which we shall speak later.

"For the moment we shall content ourselves by indicating, along the broad lines of argument, what is meant by this word reason.

"Reasoning is the art of fixing the relativeness of things.

"It is by means of reasoning that it is possible to differentiate events and to indicate to what category they belong.

"It is the habit of reasoning to determine that which it is wise to undertake, thus permitting us to judge what should be set aside.

"How could we guide ourselves through life without the beacon-light of reason? It pierces the darkness of social ignorance, it helps us to distinguish vaguely objects heretofore plunged in obscurity, and which will always remain invisible to those who are unprovided with this indispensable accessory - the gift of reasoning.

"He who ventures in the darkness and walks haphazard, finds himself suddenly confronted by obstacles which he was unable to foresee.

"He finds himself frightened by forms whose nature he cannot define, and is often tempted to attribute silhouettes of assassins to branches of trees, instead of recognizing the real culprit who is watching him from the corner of the wild forest.

"Life, as well as the wildest wilderness, is strewn with pitfalls. To think of examining it rapidly, without the aid of that torch called reason, would be imitating the man of whom we have just spoken.

"Many are the mirages, which lead us to mistake dim shadows for disquieting realities, unless we examine them critically, for otherwise we can never ascribe to them their true value.

"Certain incidents, which seem at first sight to be of small importance, assume a primordial value when we have explained them by means of reasoning.

"To reason about a thing is to dissect it, to examine it from every point of view before adopting it, before deferring to it or before rejecting it; in one word, to reason about a thing is to act with conscious volition, which is one of the phases essential to the conquest of common sense.

"This principle conceded, it then becomes a question of seriously studying the method of reasoning, which we propose to do in the following manner but first it is necessary to be convinced of this truth."

Without reason there is no common sense.

Yoritomo teaches us that, altho moderation is only of secondary importance, it is still indispensable to the attainment of common sense.

It is moderation which incites us to restrain our impatience, to silence our inexplicable antipathies and to put a break on our tempestuous enthusiasms.

Can one judge of the aspect of a garden while the tempest is twisting the branches of the trees, tearing off the tendrils of the climbing vines, scattering the petals of the flowers and spoiling the corollas already in full bloom?

And now, Yoritomo, who loves to illustrate his teachings by expressive figures of speech, tells us the following story.