Although clarity may come to us unexpectedly, it is hardly accidental. It is convenient to think that the people among us who seem to have greater judgment in their personal, professional or spiritual lives, have it because they are simply lucky. It’s more difficult to accept that their clarity is not accidental. It’s even harder to accept that such lucidity seems to come only to certain people because they’ve made considerable efforts to achieve it. We find greater comfort in attributing someone’s clarity (and success) to happenstance because it relieves us of taking responsibility for our own coherence.

Clarity is not esoteric. It isn’t reserved for a select, privileged few. It is limited neither to the psychiatrist’s couch nor to the philosopher’s circle. It can be achieved by the common man in his daily life. The fact that some days we’re thinking clear as bulbs and other days, we aren’t half as sharp  points to the constantly evolving nature of clarity; if it can grow, so too can it decay.

Clarity in thought is not about simply memorizing facts or reading books. Knowing the name of cellular organelles doesn’t make one a biologist, knowing the laws of thermodynamics doesn’t make one a physicist. Data, figures and charts, no matter how well-developed, are of no use if one can’t make sense of them and draw his own conclusions. It’s more valuable to build an independent framework of understanding that connects pieces of information to each other and helps us integrate new ideas and observations as they come along. How cogent is our view of the big picture, how sensitive are we to the details? These questions force us to create our individual tapestries of knowledge where before there were loose threads of information. They become exercises for turning the opaque into the clear.

This brings me to the final point: clarity is neither easy to achieve nor easy to maintain. True moments of clarity, moments of insight that elucidate a problem that previously seemed impenetrable to our intellect or reasoning, are achieved not by going for walks or taking power naps, but through critical and creative thought and action. Walking and napping are not without benefit, but are hardly of sufficient help in achieving proper, compelling clarity. The challenge of achieving such perception in our lives lies in planning and preparing for it — with critical contemplation and self-debate. It may require rummaging through the ruins of failure at one time and combing through the streaks of success at another. 

To believe that clear thinking is a product of coincidence is foolhardy, to think it’s an easy fruit to pick is delusional. Quite simply, clarity doesn’t grow on trees.

Ahmed