How to Acquire Common Sense : Part 1

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

(Page 8 of 16)

Common Sense is a science, whatever may be said; according to Yoritomo, it does not blossom naturally in the minds of men; it demands cultivation, and the art of reasoning is acquired like all the faculties which go to make up moral equilibrium.

"This quality," said the philosopher, "is obscure and intangible, like the air we breathe.

"Like the air we breathe, it is necessary to our existence, it surrounds us, envelops us, and is indispensable to the harmony of our mental life.

"To acquire this precious gift, many conditions are obligatory, the principle ones being:

"Sincerity of perception.

"Art of the situation.

"Attention.

"Approximation.

"Experience.

"Comparison.

"Analysis.

"Synthesis.

"Destination.

"Direction.

"And lastly the putting of the question.

"It is very clear that without exactness of perception we could not pretend to judge justly; it would then be impossible for us to hear the voice of common sense, if we did not strive to develop it.

"Perception is usually combined with what they call in philosophical language adaptation.

"Otherwise it is difficult, when recognizing a sensation, not to attribute it at once to the sentiment which animated it at the time of its manifestation.

"The first condition, then, in the acquiring of common sense is to maintain perfection in all its pristine exactness, by abstracting the contingencies which could influence us.

"If we do not endeavor to separate from our true selves the suggestions of sense-consciousness, we shall reach the point where perception is transformed into conception, that is to say, we shall no longer obtain reality alone, but a modified reality.

"With regard to perception, if we understand its truthfulness; it will be a question for reawakening it, of placing ourselves mentally in the environment where it was produced, and of awakening the memory, so as to be able to distinguish, without mistake, the limits within which it is narrowly confined.

"The art of situation consists in reproducing, mentally, past facts, allowing for the influence of the surroundings at that time, as compared with the present environment.

"One must not fail to think about the influences to which one has been subjected since this time.

"It is possible that life during its development in the aspirant to common sense may have changed the direction of his first conceptions either by conversation or by reading or by the reproduction of divers narrations.

"It would then be a lack of common sense to base an exact recollection of former incidents on the recent state of being of the soul, without seeking to reproduce the state of mind in which one was at the epoch when those incidents occurred.

"Activity of mind, stimulated to the utmost, is able to give a color to preceding impressions, which they never have had, and, in this case again, the recollection will be marred by inexactness.

"The art of situation requires the strictest application and on this account it is a valuable factor in the acquirement of common sense.

"Attention vitalizes our activity in order to accelerate the development of a definite purpose toward which it can direct its energy.

"It could be analyzed as follows:

"First, to see;

"Secondly, to hear.

"The functions of the other senses come afterward, and their susceptibility can attract our attention to the sensations which they give us, such as the sense of smell, of touch, of taste.

"These purely physical sensations possess, however, a moral signification, from which we are permitted to make valuable deductions.

"The first two have three distinct phases:

"First degree, to see.

"Second degree, to look.

"Third degree, to observe.

"If we see a material, its color strikes us first and we say: I have seen a red or yellow material, and this will be all.

"Applying ourselves more closely, we look at it and we define the peculiarities of the color. We say: it is bright red or dark red.

"In observing it we determine to what use it is destined.

"The eye is attracted by:

"The color.

"The movement.

"The form.

"The number.

"The duration.

"We have just spoken of the color.

"The movement is personified by a series of gestures that people make or by a series of changes to which they subject things.

"The form is represented by the different outlines.

"The number by their quantity.

"The duration by their length; one will judge of the length of time it takes to walk a road by seeing the length of it.

"The act of listening is divided into three degrees.

"First degree, to hear.

"Second degree, to understand.

"Third degree, to reflect.

"If some one walking in the country hears a dog bark he perceives first a sound: this is the act of hearing.