Don＇t Follow the Follower 人生切勿盲跟从

Don＇t Follow the Follower 人生切勿盲跟从
Processionary caterpillars travel in long, undulating lines, one creature behind the other. Jean Hanri Fabre, the French entomologist, once lead a group of these caterpillars onto the rim of a large flowerpot so that the leader of the procession found himself nose to tail with the last caterpillar in the procession, forming a circle without end or beginning.

Through sheer force of habit and, of course, instinct, the ring of caterpillars circled the flowerpot for seven days and seven nights, until they died from exhaustion and starvation. An ample supply of food was close at hand and plainly visible, but it was outside the range of the circle, so the caterpillars continued along the beaten path.

People often behave in a similar way. Habit patterns and ways of thinking become deeply established, and it seems easier and more comforting to follow them than to cope with change, even when that change may represent freedom, achievement, and success.

If someone shouts, “Fire!” it is automatic to blindly follow the crowd, and many thousands have needlessly died because of it. How many stop to ask themselves: Is this really the best way out of here?

So many people “miss the boat” because it's easier and more comforting to follow — to follow without questioning the qualifications of the people just ahead — than to do some independent thinking and checking.

A hard thing for most people to fully understand is that people in such numbers can be so wrong, like the caterpillars going around and around the edge of the flowerpot, with life and food just a short distance away. If most people are living that way, it must be right, they think. But a little checking will reveal that throughout all recorded history the majority of mankind has an unbroken record of being wrong about most things, especially important things. For a time we thought the earth was flat and later we thought the sun, stars, and planets traveled around the Earth.

Both ideas are now considered ridiculous, but at the time they were believed and defended by the vast majority of followers. In the hindsight of history we must have looked like those caterpillars blindly following the follower out of habit rather than stepping out of line to look for the truth.

It's difficult for people to come to the understanding that only a small minority of people ever really get the word about life, about living abundantly and successfully. Success in the important departments of life seldom comes naturally, no more naturally than success at anything — a musical instrument, sports, fly-fishing, tennis, golf, business, marriage, parenthood.

But for some reason most people wait passively for success to come to them — like the caterpillars going around in circles, waiting for sustenance, following nose to tail — living as other people are living in the unspoken, tacit assumption that other people know how to live successfully.

It's a good idea to step out of the line every once in a while and look around to see if the line is going where we want it to go. If it is not, it might be time for a new leader and a new direction.
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列队爬行的毛虫通常会一个接着一个地排成长长的队伍，蜷曲前进。有一次，法国昆虫家让-亨利-法布尔把一群这样的毛虫引到了一个大花盆的边沿上，结果队伍中领头的那只毛虫追上了在队伍中排在最后的那只毛虫，形成了一个头尾相接周而复始的圆圈。
纯粹出于习惯，当然还有本能，这一圈毛虫绕着花盆爬行了七天七夜，直到它们精疲力竭、饥饿而死。在不远处就有显而易见的充足食物，但由于食物在圆圈的范围之外，毛虫们只能沿着固有的路线继续走下去。
人类也经常会做相似的事情。一旦习惯模式和思维方式根深蒂固，似乎逻辑这种习惯比做出改变更为容易和舒服，即使这种改变意味着自由和成功。
如果有人大喊：“着火了！” 人们就会不自觉地盲目跟随人群移动，无数的人也因此白白送命。有多少人会停下来问问自己：这确实是逃生的最好办法吗？
这么多人错失良机，是因为跟随比独立思考和验证更容易，也更令人安心，他们甚至根本不质疑前面的人是否有能力、有资格。
让大多数人难以完全理解的是，人数如此之众也会犯下如此之错，就像明明在不远处就有食物能让它们活命，那些毛虫仍然不停地在花盆边上绕圈。人们会想，如果大多数人都是以那种方式生活，他们认为那就一定是正确的。但是，只需稍微查证一下就会发现，在历史长河中，大部分人对于多数事情都无一例外地判断错误，尤其是那些重要的事情。
人们难以理解的是，其实只有一小部分人真正懂得生活的真谛，懂得如何使人生过得精彩而成功。在生活的重要领域里，要获得成功并不容易，绝不会比弹奏乐器、运动、钓鱼、打网球、打高尔夫、经商、结婚、为人父母以及庭院设计等事情来得轻松。
然而，人们总是被动地等成功自己找上门来——就像那些毛虫首尾相连地不断绕圈，空等食物上门——人们也遵循他人的生活方式，默默认定他人知道如何活得成功。
时不时从常规路线中走出来，往前看一看这是不是我们想要前进的方向，这是一个很好的主意。如果是的话，这想来会是一个好的开始。