Reflective thought arises only at crisis moments and is usually suppressed.

Evidence

The explanation of this phenomenon discloses another fetter on the reasoning faculties of the Hindus. Man’s life is generally habitual and unreflective. Reflective thought—in the sense of active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge, in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which it tends—is quite rare, and arises only in a situation which presents a dilemma or a crisis. Railway journeys and foreign travels are really occasions of crisis in the life of a Hindu, and it is natural to expect a Hindu to ask himself why he should maintain caste at all, if he cannot maintain it at all times. But he does not. He breaks caste at one step, and proceeds to observe it at the next, without raising any question. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 985

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The question of life’s meaning arises only on the reflective level — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 620; Modern administration abolishes the reflective hesitation that once mediated individual and general.