Lack of reflection

At a time when we are encouraged to respond impulsively to any situation, reflection has become a revolutionary act.
Acting impulsively means that we respond to a stimulus, whether internal or external, without our response having been reflected.
Therefore, impulse and reflection are incompatible.
This does not mean that the impulsive response is always wrong, nor that through reflection we unequivocally reach correct conclusions.
There are situations in which reflection confirms the action that we were instinctively going to carry out and others in which instinct is correct and we fail in the course of reflection.
Balance must be sought in the spontaneous action that is born of a thoughtful impulse.
For this we need a series of parameters that help us guide the instinct, through reflection, towards an action that frees us from being trapped in continuous reflection.
The absence of these parameters and the lack of reflection give rise to actions that respond to external stimuli in an uncontrolled way.
When the impulse is not guided, it responds to stimuli in an emotional, superficial way, without reflection.
This type of impulsive-emotional response is the most common in our society and is reaffirmed in the collective.
Byung-Chul Han states in his book In the Swarm that digital technology has given rise to a new form of individualized collective without the capacity for definitive action, given that it is exposed to an overdose of information that, contrary to what is believed, hinders decision-making, that is, the ability to discern, to separate.
The terrible events that have occurred recently, and the social response they have provoked, do not allow us to see this collective reality that responds in an impulsive-emotional way overwhelmed by the amount of information and the lack of reflection.
This does not detract from the seriousness of the events that have occurred, but it does detract from our capacity, collective and individual, to respond to them with discernment and understanding.
Luqman Nieto luqmannieto.com