Hi! It's been a while, and I'm back with Marx. For those of you who don't know him, his picture in below. (TA-DAH!)

Yup, so this is Karl Marx. He was a great person with great ideas. Although Marx is showing a "peace" sign in this picture, his ideas of Communism had nevertheless brought bloodshed, revolutions, and even poverty to many parts of the world. But of course we could not blame Marx for those sufferings, for all he did was just think and write.

Anyhow, I came across a few words in Marx's writing which I think is interesting and worth to share. Marx wrote, "it is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness".

The key word here is consciousness. According to my Oxford dictionary, consciousness means:

1. the state of being able to use your senses and mental power to understand what is happening.

2. the state of being aware of something.

3. the ideas and opinions of a person or group.

In Thai, consciousness simply means "sa-ti". So what Marx is saying, I believe, is that how we think, act, and are today is shaped by our society. According to this understand, what music I like to listen to, what clothes I like to wear, and what food I like to eat are not actually decided by me. In fact they are decided by what I life-experience I had, what education I received, and even what T.V programme I've watched.

Well, that kind of sum up my understanding of Marx's quote. Do you agree with me or have anything to add? If you agree with my interpretation of Marx, then do you agree with what Marx is saying?

Disagreements are also welcome. For arguing and exchanging of ideas are the most effective ways to learn. Cheers!