Why purpose & common sense matter

“Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction and events without reason. Without the purpose, life is trivial, petty and pointless.” American pastor and well known author - Rick Warren.

Almost everyone, at one time or other, wonders what life is all about. One way of looking at it is that life is all about setting goals, and achieving them. Setting goals allows one to create a vision of what life should be like, triggers changes in behaviour and sustains the momentum of life. Successful persons mark off the road leading to a desired destination with milestones and signposts, to enable course corrections en route. The feeling of satisfaction one gets, upon realising that what was intended has been achieved, is what keeps one going. And, as one sets one goal after another, and keeps raising the bar, one is spurred on to greater and greater effort and, consequently, success.

Most of us have a sequence of objectives, such as completing school, college too, if possible, a career that offers reasonable job satisfaction and income, a happy marriage, children, and so on. But, as the saying goes, no pain, no gain. Nothing comes one’s way without effort. As Thomas Edison said, “the three great essentials to achieve anything worthwhile are hard work, stick-to-itiveness and common sense.”

There are many factors that contribute to a person’s success, such as education, training, experience, sound advice, and determined effort. But it is common sense that is probably the most important attribute one needs to possess. And common sense is simply the possession of knowledge about the day-to-day world and things which are too obvious to need elaboration or explanation. After all, one does not have to be taught that things go down and not up, or that a wedding has a bride and groom! Or, for that matter, that if someone is shouting at you, it is probably out of anger!

Suffice it to say that, in a broad manner of speaking, common sense is the art of being shrewd in the management of practical matters, discreet in handling sensitive issues, frugal in activities with monetary implications, and, in general, behaving in a manner that relates more to the reality of the world than ideas or desires. To possess sound judgment, in short.

Common sense is also a faculty one requires more by experience and exposure than by institution or education. To have the strength of character is not to be swayed by theoretical knowledge, but to prefer to be guided by what one can perceive through the senses, means common sense in its most useful form. Which is probably why the French politician, romantic author and literary legend, Victor Hugo, in his own inimitable style, said that, “Commonsense is in spite of, not as a result of education.” And, in a similar vein Robert Green Ingersoll, the American lawyer, writer and orator, who was a great advocate of agnosticism, observed that “It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense.”

It would, thus, appear that common sense is clearly a gift. Unfortunately, as the great French, philosopher Voltaire said, “common sense is not so common”. The faculty of common sense is also described by other words, such as sensible or prudent. An expression that comes close to having a similar meaning is street-smart, or the knowledge of how to keep oneself safe from strangers or in an unfamiliar environment. But, then, as Juliet says in Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’, “…that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet…”.

In other words, common sense, no matter by what one word refers to it, is the ability to be rational and reasonable, being concerned with adopting a method which is likely to succeed, or be effective, in a given situation. Being practical and functional, rather than decorative, in other words.

Although not quite in keeping with the context in which the present discussion is taking place, it is interesting to note that ‘Common Sense’ was also the title of a pamphlet written by the English-born French revolutionary and American Founding Father, Thomas Paine, advocating independence from Great Britain to the people of the 13 colonies of America during the American War of Independence.

Common sense may be an earthy and ordinary form of expression. But, strange as it may seem, the somewhat intimidating word, philosophy, in its most practical sense, stands for nothing very much different. In essence philosophy centres around the imperatives that constitute guiding principles for behaviour consistent with the demands of the environment in which one is placed. Who, but for the immortal Shakespeare, could have articulated this, when he makes Hamlet, say to Horatio in his play, Hamlet: “There are more things on heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

What Shakespeare would appear to have meant that one must believe what he or she sees. Even if they previously did not think so, the real evidence should change their mind.

Somewhat akin to the field of philosophy is that of jurisprudence, with the word, quite literally, meaning the theory or philosophy of law.

The language is so obtuse, the expressions so exotic, and the construction of sentences so labourious and complex, that even highly educated persons, who have not been students of law, normally find it difficult to comprehend the true import. But once the jargon is demystified, and the curtain lifted, to allow a glimpse of the fundamental principles, what appears is nothing but ordinary common sense. No wonder, William O Douglas, the distinguished American jurist, who sat on the bench of the Supreme Court of America, said: “Commonsense often makes good law.”

This kind of thinking, however, has its limitations. As Lord Brian Kerr, formerly the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland cautioned, “There is no monopoly of wisdom on what constitutes common sense and that what to some may appear entirely sensible will to others seem utterly outlandish. So, common sense, as a check or voucher for the correctness of a legal outcome is to be handled with care and circumspection.” A piece of advice, the wisdom of which was reinforced, by the observations of the ancient Greek philosopher Plato, who said, “Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will always find a way around law.”

The time has come to lend a touch of humour to this piece.

It is universally accepted that women have more common sense than men. Which was probably why when I said to my wife that she should embrace her mistakes, how much promptly she gave me a big hug!

(The writer is formerly Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh)