"Thought leader" is a misnomer.

"Man of wisdom" is more like it.

The former paints a fake picture.

True great thinkers of the past did not sit around

and (actively) think.

They connected the dots. They understood.

The words that emanate from he who is acclaimed

to be a "great thinker"

is the result of him understanding something

that the masses are too thoughtful to comprehend.

A thinker is a researcher.

A world-renowned and worshipped "thinker" is an artist.

Not because he thinks of never-thought-of words.

But because he utters words of wisdom

without thought.

Wisdom is at the tip of his tongue.

His Mind is ready to serve

at a moment's notice.

Research is a trap.

"Ideas" even more so.

A "brain virus" as coined by someone

is not something to celebrate or be excited about.

It is something to be wary of.

Instead of succumbing one's

consciousness to it,

it is to be seen beyond.

A single thought has the power

to wreak havoc on an entire day.

And the true havoc in the wreaking will be that

the human will actually welcome the wreaking.

He will be excited and happy about it.

To him, it will register

as research or brainstorming.

Which will beget illusions of purpose,

innovation, or future prospects for either.

"

Originally created as a closed network for researchers,

the Internet was suddenly a new public medium for information.

It became the home of virtual shopping malls, bookstores, stockbrokers,

newspapers, and entertainment. Schools were “getting connected” to the Internet,

and children were learning to do research in novel ways.

"

"Closed network for researchers."

This network today, is wide open.

And it has engulfed most of the educated world into researching

about work, relationships, health, happiness and all things humane and inhumane.

And in that engulfing, it has already brought humanity

to the brink of the hypothesized singularity.

Independent of the many notifications

of hope, happiness, and sadness

that the internet numbs one's empty life with today,

all that a internet user is ultimately funding,

is the laying of more submarine communication cables -

deep see coaxial cables

that will feed his need for even more notifications

and both his dreaded and beloved search queries.

When I asked my Mind...

"what would be an apt use of the internet?"

it immediately served me a scene from - The Bourne Identity.

A scene in which Jason is researching his next destination.

That to me is the internet serving a human.

A human who knows what needs to be done.

Anything else is research.

Any and all research ultimately fills pockets

of the delusional awashed in power and ego lust.

Internet today is better left for he

who is excited by his thoughts and finds home in it.

If a man is excited by a thought

he will indeed get somewhere.

He may even own companies and properties.

And that is fine if that is what he wants in his bones,

to hop between sources of excitement

and objects of ownership.

But let him be told,

his thoughts will not make him a legend.

It will not give him that

which is viscerally his.

For spending days thinking and researching

is a lesser life.

Doing alone or religously abiding to

"I get things done" is a slight elevation

but not the ultimate.

The budding legend must choose.

He must choose between thoughtful days and thoughtless days.

He must choose between exciting

and that which he thinks is gloomy.

He must choose between happiness and the company of others,

and that which he thinks is sadness and loneliness.

Thank you.