Common sense essay- 1

Introduction: Common sense, it has been said, is the most uncommon thing in the world. Common sense is only the combination of experience with intelligence. It is a rare commodity that is not exactly mother or native wit. This is only a clever paradox which it seems to instinctively show at unexpected moments.

Practical wisdom: Common sense is practical wisdom. So we often look upon common sense as a blind instinct. It is a quality that neither wealth nor learning can confer on a man. It is supposed to come as a gift from above, and that one is born with, – a sharp insight into matters and promptitude that helps us much In the practical field of work. Education or book-learning, no doubt, makes us sophisticated but does not engender common sense.

Somebody called Mr, Pickwick (of Charles Dickens) from the road; Pickwick looked upwards at the sky. Albert Einstein was a very great scientist. But he made two holes in the cage – one big and the other small — so that his two cats, one big and other very small (mother and the young one / kitten), may come out through the two respective holes. Does he lack common sense? For this reason, common sense is often spoken of like a mystery.

The learned man may be a wonderful theorist, a man of many devices. There may not be any doubt about his shrewd intelligence in the abstract. But when faced with a situation, he is utterly lost. He is like the wise man of Sukumar Roy who turns over the pages of his book of recipes in vain for the right remedy that can save him from the angry bull.

But if instead of being bookish, he acts on wisdom, tested and proved by experience, he can almost unerringly hit upon the proper line. That is a common sense, the ability to use the experience to meet immediate circumstances. It is practical wisdom applied to common life.

Importance: Common sense is something different from a laborious process of reasoning. It implies swift decision, a capacity to do the right thing without jumbling. An intelligent man, when guided by a wide experience of life, develops a spontaneous reflex power to act quickly and sensibly in any situation.

It must not be thought, however, that common sense rules out the higher faculty of the mind. On the contrary, where it goes hand in hand with common sense, it amounts to genius. But if a man is to have only one sense, let him, by all means, have common sense: For without common sense, he is of no use at all. He may know how to do the job, but to be successful he must apply that knowledge with sure effect; tact is the gift of common sense and is more important than talent.

Common sense is a gift that a prince has in common with a peasant. A pampered child of fortune is oftener than not unrealistic in his approach to life’s problems. Naturally, he misses that success. But the man of experience knows what he can reasonably expect from life, and his common sense works without fail. His judgment remains clear and is not lost or blurred in the midst of danger.

In the practical affairs of life, the value of common sense is great indeed. It helps one to make the most of one’s knowledge and experience. Where book-learning confuses and misleads, common sense may stand him in good stead. Because it is born of experience; it comes easily to the common man who works with his own hands.

Uncommon sense: An extraordinary sense of anything not found in all and sundry in general is an uncommon sense. Many can learn many things from this. But in fact, many a time, common sense becomes uncommon and vice-versa.

Conclusion: The uncommon never escapes the shrewd judgment of common sense. The extra-ordinary principle has to submit ultimately to the test of common sense. Common sense is what makes for permanence, continuity and sweeps away much that is merely eccentric and out of the way. It governs the day-to Life of a man.