Akram Youth Right Understanding | March 2015 | Akram Youth | Page 9

Priming

O

nce a young boy and his uncle were
jogging in a beautiful garden which
had flowers blooming all over. Birds
chirped away merrily, adding a touch of
sweetness to the already pleasant atmosphere.
After some time they decided to take a break.
While they sat on a bench, the young boy
noticed that one corner of the garden was very
dirty with litter strewn all over. The leftover was
attracting stray dogs in search of a meal.
Feeling disappointed he said to his uncle “The
garbage and dogs are spoiling the entire beauty
of this lovely garden.” Deciding to take this
opportunity to impart a very crucial message to
his nephew his uncle asked, “What do you think
should be done?” The boy replied, “It's obvious.
The garden needs to be protected by erecting a
fence all around to prevent these dogs and
other unsocial elements from entering the
garden.” His uncle then probed further saying,

“That means none shall enter the garden,
which also means that nobody shall be able to
jog or play here as well.” The boy swung his
hands in the air and replied. “Of course, there
should be a gate.” His uncle again asked,
“That's fine. But then the dogs too shall enter
through the gates. Won't they?
This got the young chap thinking. Upon
finding a solution he leaped with enthusiasm
saying, “It's simple. We can arrange for a
watchman to keep a check on who should be
allowed and who should be prevented from
coming in.”
His uncle continued, “Just by looking at
the garden your mind processed a lot many
thoughts like, it's dirty, it should be protected,
how we should protect it, a watchman can be
appointed and so on.
All these thoughts were provoked just
on viewing the garden. This correlation of
image and thoughts is known as 'priming.'
Our thoughts are continuously influenced or

Akram Youth | 09