As in the mind of society so is the mind of man

We often think that all men are independent to each other and their thoughts have no relationship with other people. We believe that everyone is unique and the human personality is determined on the basis of the random combination of genes or his DNA. As per the Indian philosophy, man is the reflection of the universe (Aham Baramasmi). The Upanishads, state:

As is the human body, so is the cosmic body

As is the human mind, so as the cosmic mind


As is the microcosm, so is the macrocosm

we are able to use this principle for gathering a lot useful information about the man and the society. If we have the macro-picture of the society, we are able to understand the individual's mind of the member of the society. we are able to also understand the mind of the society by the study of one or more persons of the same society as the common traits amongst few folks embodies the soul of the mind of the society. Every man of a society shares the thoughts of the society independent to his personal thoughts.

Opinions Polls and Expert Opinion

The mechanisms for knowing the mind of the society is by the opinion polls, elections or referendum. While elections are to select an individual for the governance, referendum is used to get the opinion of the society on a particular issue. even so, these processes are quite exhaustive as they involve voting of all citizens in the poll. Hence often opinion polls are used as an efficient method to know the view of the society by getting the votes of a sample population on random basis.

Opinion polls are quite common in all democratic countries to determine the opinion of the society. for instance, it's common to hear that in USA the approval rating of the President is increasing or decreasing. These opinion polls or surveys play very significant role in the democracies as it keeps the government in power, informed about the opinion of the citizens. The ruler can, so, take those actions that are popular instead of unpopular between the folks.

Opinion polls or surveys are not based on the voting of all the citizens but often select very small percentage of the population on random basis. Often the sample size is very small (less than a fraction of a percentage). nonetheless the opinion poll represents the mind of the whole population somewhat accurately. In fact, nowadays it's very common in almost all the democratic countries to predict even the number of candidates who are likely to win from each party or the percentage of votes which a candidate or political party is likely to get. The experience shows that the predictions based on the fractions of population are quite accurate. Thus the micro-picture of the mid of few folks seems to broadly represent the macro-picture of the society.

Now, imagine that you reduce the size of the sample. The accuracy of the predictions may not reduce a lot. There is not a lot reduction in the accuracy of prediction if the sample size is say 80% (actual voting) and just 0.001% (the regular sample of population). Now if the sample, size is reduced to say just one, yes, just one. Can we nonetheless make the predictions? Yes, it's possible. Even at the lowest level of one person, the folks have a feeling or intuition as to who is likely to win of lose. An unbiased expert can accurately predict the chances of winning of a candidate or the party based on his intuition and experience even without doing any survey or poll. even so, his accuracy would depend, how attune he is with the mind of the society. A human mind is the reflection of the mind of the society. So one can feel the mood of the folks and make predictions based on intuition, if his fair and just. The accuracy of the mind of an expert is almost as high as the accuracy of the surveys conducted by getting the opinion of thousands of folks.

The Mind of the Man

among major mistake we are able to make in understanding the folks of different society is to look at them similar to our own. Each society creates a mind of its own which is shared by all the members of the society. Let us discuss this issue with the example of democracy itself.

In India, the concept of democracy was introduced by British based on their own experience of democracy. The constitution of India is broadly drafted based on the constitution of UK and USA. even so, when it comes to implementations, the realities are quite different. In USA, there are only two main political parties i.e.. Democrats and Republicans. There is virtually no strength of the third force. The situation is not a lot different in UK where the votes are almost split between the two major parties Conservative and Labor. The power only swings between these two major parties.

On the contrary, India has at least 6 national parties and over a dozen regional parties and hundreds of other parties. The central government of India is presently formed as a coalition of more than a dozen parties. No single party in India have more than 30% of the votes polled. Thus the same constitution leads to different political system in different countries.

Macro vs Micro Society

The government of a country can not survive for long if there is an inherent contradiction between the mind of the folks and the mind of the society. The macro-image of the society can be useful information to understand the mind of the man who is smallest denomination of the society. Let us take the contrast between USA, UK, India, Islamic countries or communist countries. The governments of a country seem to represent the mind of its folks. The mind of folks can be known merely by knowing the system of governance in a country. Here we are able to divide the mind of the folks to have three type of logic i.e. Crisp Logic, Fuzzy Logic and Single-Logic.

Twin Logic Societies

it is able to be said that the folks of the countries like USA, UK and most European countries usually see the truth only in black and white. You are either right or wrong. Almost half the folks are always wrong in the opinion of the other half. In the countries where there are two party governments. In these countries, folks believe in binary or crisp logic where there are only two possibilities i.e. either right or wrong.

even so, these countries don't have the permanent sense of right and wrong as one can see that the governments in these countries keeps on changing. The right of today can become wrong tomorrow as well as one party can lose and other party can win. nevertheless at any point of time you have only one right and the rest is wrong. There is also a healthy acceptance of the different point of view as the wrong of today can hope that it is able to become right tomorrow. This also reflects the theme of tolerance since the majority population tolerates the minority half in spite of of their difference of opinion. The alteration of the government from time to time in election is the reflection of the reality that folks's mind are subjected to alteration with time. folks are willing to learn new things and alteration their mind. But the folks can not accept part-truth or the truth to be only partly true.

Fuzzy Logic Societies

Now look at a multi-party country like India. The pattern of governance in India shows that at any point of time, there are a lot of rights and a lot of wrongs. This reflects the philosophical mindset of the folks as they're all used to the diversity of truths. Here the folks believe on fuzzy logic rather than crisp logic. So for them truth is always partial as absolute truth can never be known. The independence of opinions needs tolerance of other person's point of view which appears to exist in plenty in India. you are able to also find the similar pattern in some European countries like Italy. This difference of opinion is also an indication of the philosophical and artistic minds of the society and their folks which provides the folks to follow their own path and discover their own destiny. it's no wonder that the tolerant religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism are born in India.

Single Logic Societies

Let us now refer to the societies which have dictatorships (like gulf countries, China) or the single party democracies ruled by single parties like Singapore or Russia . In these countries, the governments don't alteration with time and the same person or his family continues to rule. The folks of these countries are those who have known only one Truth which they believe so deeply that they are able to't even discuss or debate any other point of view. Naturally no creativity, philosophy or art can grow here. One can see that most of such dictatorial governments exist in Islamic countries or the countries created based on a man-made doctrine. Even when the countries like Pakistan tried to experiment with democracy, they fail. The constitution of Pakistan was changed seven times. Even when, technically, there was a democratically elected government, actually it was always the Army which ruled the nation behind the scene. If one closely observes the history of China or Russia, one can find that it never had tolerance for other opinion. It has always has a rule based on doctrine whether Monarchy or Communism. The present doctrine is communism but it is able to alteration, if additional doctrine annihilate communism. Even the democratic government of Russia or Singapore is no different than the communist government of China or the Monarchies of Middle-East countries.

Knowing the Mind of an Individual

What the macro picture can tell us about the mind of the folks at the lowest level? If you meet an Indian, he is unlikely to have strong views on any issue and he is likely to respect diversity of thoughts and opinions. His opinion is based on practice rather then logic.

If you meet a man of the western country (like American and European), he is likely to have fixed views on every issue. even so, he is willing to discuss and convince you his views and may surprise you with the knowledge of the subject that he doesn't agree. His opinion is based on logic. If you are able to create better arguments or convince him to the other point of view, he may even discard his old view and alteration to he new view. even so, whatever he believes, he believes hundred percent at any point of time.. There can't be any ambiguity or ambivalence in his ideas and believes.

even so, if you meet and citizen of a dictatorial country or single party system, you need not waste your time in discussions as his mind is not willing to tolerate additional point of view. No amount of logic or reasoning can alter his views.

Conclusions: Appreciate the Diversity

Thoughts are things that are created similar to the creation of human body. they're not independent from the thoughts of the parents or the society. Thus like the DNA of each cell of the body is same as the whole body, same is true with the DNA of the thoughts that resides in our mind. The mind of a person represents the mind of the society as it carries in it the thousands of years of the evolution of the thoughts of the society. So when folks changes his place of origin and settle in different countries, their mind undergoes cosmetic changes to adopt the environment of the new country and culture gradually. nevertheless it's nothing more superficial than that of the tanning or lightening of the skin which the body undergoes when a person lives in a hot or a cold country. even so, the features of the person continue to closely resemble with the folks of the parent country whose part the person is. so, even inside the same country, folks of different societies continue to behave differently in spite of of the centuries of coexistence.