The easiest way to live in this world is to follow the crowd. Never develop an independent mind of your own. Agree with whatever everyone else says. Never question old customs and traditions; instead, defend and promote them. Most people choose this easier path because thinking for oneself requires courage, while following the crowd demands nothing.

This is why societies often become filled with blind obident, and thinkingless people.

Many of history’s greatest injustices survived not because they were right, but because too few people dared to challenge them. Sati continued for centuries, sending countless women to their deaths. Slavery deprived millions of their freedom and humanity. Untouchability robbed generations of Dalits of their dignity and basic rights. These injustices were not sustained by a handful of powerful individuals alone; they were sustained by a society that accepted them without question.

This raises an important question: How does such a society emerge?

It emerges from ignorance, from intellectual laziness, and from the habit of trusting authority more than one’s own reason. A crowd is formed when individuals stop thinking for themselves and begin borrowing their beliefs from others. The moment a person abandons reason and surrenders judgment to tradition, authority, or public opinion, they become part of the crowd.

But why has the crowd so often stood on the side of injustice?

One reason is power. Throughout history, stronger groups have used their power to dominate weaker groups. Another reason is the absence of critical thinking. Oppression becomes easier when people are discouraged from questioning. This is why education has always been feared by those who wish to maintain unjust systems. Education does more than teach facts; it teaches people to ask questions, to distinguish right from wrong, and to challenge what is presented as natural or inevitable.

This is why oppressed communities were so often denied access to knowledge. Women, Dalits, slaves, and many other marginalized groups were kept away from education because an educated mind is difficult to enslave.

The history of human progress is, in many ways, the history of people learning to think for themselves.

Dr. B. R. Ambedkar understood this deeply. Through education, he awakened millions to the idea that they had a right to dignity, liberty, and equality. Education gave him the power to challenge a social order that had been accepted for centuries. Similarly, Jyotirao Phule found in books “Rights of men” the intellectual tools to challenge caste oppression and advocate for women’s education and social justice.

Every meaningful social revolution has been rooted in education, reason, and the courage to question.

The tragedy of the modern world is that even though we have unprecedented access to education, information, and knowledge, many people still choose superstition over reason and conformity over critical thought. Caste discrimination persists, racism continues to divide societies, and women are still often treated as inferior. The problem is no longer merely a lack of knowledge; it is a lack of critical engagement with knowledge.

The Buddha warned against this long ago. He advised people not to believe something merely because it is written in a scripture, taught by a respected teacher, or accepted by the majority. A belief should be accepted only after it has been examined through reason and experience.

Yet throughout history, people have often used sacred texts and traditions not as guides to wisdom but as tools to justify injustice. They have defended harmful practices by saying, “It is written in our scriptures,” “Our ancestors followed it,” or “This is how it has always been done.”

But tradition alone cannot make something right. Popularity cannot make something true. Age cannot make something moral.

This is where reason becomes indispensable.

As René Descartes argued, we should doubt everything that can reasonably be doubted until we arrive at something that can withstand scrutiny. Socrates, the Buddha, Abraham Lincoln, Mary Wollstonecraft, Kierkegaard, Tolstoy, and countless other thinkers challenged the accepted beliefs of their time because they understood that truth is not discovered through obedience but through inquiry.

No idea should be immune from criticism. No tradition should be beyond examination. No authority should be exempt from questioning. Every belief, no matter how ancient or widely accepted, must justify itself before reason, evidence, and morality.

In the end, the greatest responsibility of a human being is to think for themselves. Never surrender your judgment to the crowd. Have the courage to believe that even if you stand alone, you may still be right, and the majority may still be wrong.

Right and wrong should not be determined by tradition, authority, or numbers, but by reason, morality, evidence, and ethical conduct.

The progress of humanity has never been driven by those who merely followed the crowd. It has always been driven by those who dared to think beyond it and that’s the whole purpose of this essay.

To encourage you to think for yourself, to have the courage to question traditions and authorities, and to use reason as the ultimate guide in your search for truth, justice, and human dignity.

source of Inspiration

1. What Is Englightment by Immanuel Kant.

2. Rights of men by Thomas Paine.

3. Untruth Crowd by Soren Kierkgard.

4. Buddha, ambedkar.