It only takes one person to stop following the herd to change the whole world.
Like a schoolgirl in Pakistan.
Malala Yousefzai used her intellect to fight for a girl’s right to an education.
She was not afraid of anyone, because going to school was not a crime.
Then the Taliban tried to assassinate her and shot her in the face.
Intimidation did not stop her. It had the opposite effect.
It inspired her fight harder for girls to have an education.
After many surgeries in America, she recovered.
The whole world began to notice the bravery of the teenage girl.
She won The Nobel Peace Prize.
She used her power of reasoning to ask WHY we do things the way we do.
Intellectuals don’t follow the herd, they lead it.
The ability to reason is what distinguishes us from other living creatures.
The herd instinct isn’t in Malala.
She doesn’t guard the status quo, she uses her intellect and questions it.
All art and music and social development stem from our power to reason, or our intellect.
When we go beyond instinctual behavior, our desires turn into goals that with benefits beyond ourselves.
Then we gain understanding and co-operate with others to reach the goal.
In Sanskrit ‘Vedanta’ means an “absolute knowledge”, which includes experience and karma.
Life is a series of experiences.
Our badge of recognition that we are alive is the action that we take.
If our actions or karma are to heal the world, they return benefits to us; if they are to harm the world, they return consequences.
Instead of blindly accepting our reality, we can view it with critical eyes, and change it.
Like Malala.
She knows that acting the same way as everyone around her and expecting a different result doesn’t solve herd problems.