Why is Common Sense Controversial?

Although deemed controversial even before I showed up, the 1000 Libraries talk was received very well by the 40-plus members of the North Bethesda Rotary club. Yes, some of the questions were pointed but not nearly as hostile as the ones I faced in the talk I did before this one. (Won't tell you where that was!)

Many approached me at the end and commented that it made them think about things they hadn't thought about before.

If you know me well, you know that I am normally not the one to kick up controversy just for the sake of it. Yes, I consider myself an out-of-the-box thinker which gets me in trouble sometimes. But this time, I am actually proud of the "controversial" aspects of this talk. It tells me that I am onto something.

You see, what's controversial to many is actually common sense to me. The following are three of such common sense concepts that the talk was based on:

1) Prevention is better than correction. This is commonly accepted wisdom. And yet, in making the world a better place, most of the projects we take on are correction based. Stopping the killings. Preventing hunger. Eradicating a disease. We don't have many projects that prevent such things from happening in the first place.

2) The root cause of all problems of the world is our ignorance. No system - political or otherwise - in the world will fix our problems unless and until we realize that it's us, the humans, who are causing these problems. The root cause of all problems of the world, if you boil it down to it's most basic, is that we are not in touch with our Deepest Essence, our Power, our Source.

3) We can immediately do something to begin to create a world in which problems don't exist. Can you guess what the starting point is?

There are other such common sense things that are there in the slideshow. Can you spot them?

And there are a few things that I can only say and not write about or put in the presentation. For that, you will have to invite me over to speak at one of the gatherings to which you belong. This is a 20-minutes talk that's designed to inspire, empower and start some robust dialogue on how to create a better world. It could be blown out into a 1-hour workshop or a discussion session.

Please let me know if you have questions about any of this.

Happy Success,
Bhavesh.

P.S. This is the first time I used a slideshow for this talk. I have placed it at the top of this blog.

P.P.S. What does all of this have to do with 1000 Libraries? Well, 1000 Libraries' vision is to supply books, stimulus, people, platform and other resources to make this vision a reality. Check the slideshow to find out more.