“It Is so Easy to Be Immature”

“It is so easy to be immature,” Immanuel Kant wrote in his essay “What is Enlightenment” from 1784. And it still is. We duck enlightenment. We don’t want to take on the burden of thinking for ourselves. We prefer to be directed by dancing emotions, instead of engaging in uphill reason.

“Gladly remain in lifelong Immaturity”

“Laziness and cowardice are the reasons why so great a proportion of men, long after nature has released them from alien guidance, nonetheless gladly remain in lifelong immaturity,” Kant argued.

Sadly, little has changed in that respect since the days of the great German philosopher. A great proportion of people in free countries live in self-imposed Immaturity.

We criticise others but seldom step forward. We toss away responsibility to someone we believe can fix life for us. We go for quick and easy solutions as long as it gives us comfort. That was the case when Immanuel Kant lived, and that is the case today.

His father was a saddler, and the family was more well-off than most. Still, punishments from God could strike at any moment, and Immanuel’s mother died at the age of 40. Three of his siblings died as children, too. You could only grin and bear it, hoping for a better afterlife. Most people would never have travelled far, and less than half of the population could read and write. The only book in Kant’s home was probably the Bible. Books were something merely the affluent could afford. People back then had many excuses for being immature. In democratic countries in today’s world, we have few excuses, if any.

The docile creatures

Today, we see those who join political movements and religious groups, where blind obedience and absolute loyalty to the cause, whatever it is, is expected. And people obey. It is much easier that way. To enter the ponderous path of thinking for yourself is not enticing.

Besides, being a mimicking sheep gives you a cosy feeling of belonging and importance.

If you want to be an extremist, you need to leave reason on the doorstep. Asking questions like the following is not welcome.

– “Is an ‘intifada from London to Gaza’ a good idea?”

– “What did Trump actually achieve during his presidency?”

– “Does this religious/activist group welcome criticism? Why not?”

Emotions are important, but a balance between emotions and reason is needed. In the book “Emotional Intelligence 2.0,” Bradberry&Greaves describes this desired balance as a smooth traffic between the rational and emotional centres of your brain. Unfortunately, many have closed down this cerebral highway, and let youthful emotions lark about lacking the required adjustments of father logic, mother probability and grandma evidence. Such immature people are easy to fool.

And fools elect, without further ado, leaders who have their own self-interest in mind. And that is often their only interest. No matter their political affinity. When such disqualified politicians don’t deliver, fools become upset. Lying on the sofa writing wrathful comments on social media. “How could you do this to me ??2€%&!!” Without a dint of introspection.

We choose to work for self-serving companies with self-serving leaders, hoping it will bring us “success.” Somebody told us it would, so why bother figuring it out for ourselves?

It is easy to become a leader of immature people

But why can’t we just leave the thinking and the decisions to others? While we get on with our lives and spend another evening in front of the TV, munching empty calories, with the mobile in our hands? Because you will have no control over who makes decisions on your behalf. And as Kant pointed out, it is easy to establish yourself as a leader of immature people. Since a great proportion of us are so easy to fool, it is often skilled manipulators who shape our society and our children’s society.

We end up with decision-makers, highly immature themselves, who delight in controlling others. Their diet consists of status and flattery. To such people, phrases like ”longer-term consequences” and “the common good” are deserts that sound good, but which they have never tasted. With such immature leaders holding sway over an equally immature franchise, societies will stagnate and then go into regression.

No enlightenment, no progress

To move forward a society needs not just freedom, but enlightened citizens who use their own reason to find out who to support, who to work for and who to vote for. Such citizens take a stroll to ponder on the consequences of the local council’s proposal to change the school curriculum.

Is the research reliable?
Are these changes politically motivated?
Merely, because somebody believes it is the right thing to do?
Is it likely that the changes will have the promised positive effects?
What will the children lose?

Even more importantly, enlightenment knows no borders.

Witth a shortage of thinking people, will not be able to solve our collective challenges. Challenges that affect all countries and all humans. From climate change to overpopulation and pandemics (yes, there will be new ones). The loss of insects has a disastrous impact on food production. Left with a whimsical North Korea, none of us would be safe. Even if the rest of the world dismantled their nuclear weapons.

Throw off the yoke of Immaturity

A shortage of thinking people means that a large proportion of humans willingly behave like children. We cannot have it like that.

But what will it take for humanity to free ourselves from our Immaturity and become Enlightened? To “use our own understanding, “as Kant put it? A condition is of course freedom. Something which many, do not have.

The philosopher was lucky to live under the relatively free reign of Frederick the Great. And Kant directed most of his criticism towards religion, not the monarch. Almost 1/3 of people in today’s world are not as lucky as Kant was in the 18th century.

But what about the rest of the world? In countries where we will not be hanged, drained and quartered for “using our own understanding.” Where we need to propel out of our mental sofas. To spend more energy on finding out things instead of yelling or cheering.

Firstly. It is not just about what you should do, but what you should avoid doing. Don’t be an indifferent layabout. Don’t be a mimicking sheep. Don’t be a useful idiot to people who only care about themselves. Whether it is a prime minister or the head of a sports club.

Secondly. Most of us will never be “great thinkers” jumping from one podcast to the next, holding sparkling speeches or writing books that change people’s lives. So, make sure you prop up the good people who do.

You may have justified excuses. Caught up in work, a long commute, and taking care of a family. But we all have a few minutes to spend. Use them to prop up good people. The ones who think for themselves. Who base their teachings on knowledge and reason, not what makes them feel good. People who can take criticism. Who are not doing what they do to become popular, but because they have something of substance to share with the world.

Immaturity should not come easily

Kant certainly believed he had something of substance to share when he wrote, “It is so easy to be immature.” It ought not to. Immaturity should not come easily.

Children in an adult’s body people ought to have been friendless, penniless and ignored. “We will disregard you until you grow up.”

We need to turn Kant’s 240-year-old statement around: No, it is not easy to be immature. It is the hardest life you can lead.