We spend much of our lives constructing mental cages that are invisible to us, dungeons of the mind that restrict and confine us. The world we experience is more a construct of our belief systems, of how we interpret events. Nothing is as it is, it is as we are. Whatever it is, someone with a different background, a different upbringing, would see it differently, feel differently, react differently. Those disparate responses would in turn create a divergent experience and so the you that you are goes about creating a different world than they would.
Taking ‘You 101’ is a matter of going to the balcony, standing back and asking yourself how others might have understood the experience in other ways and how adopting that perspective would have led to a different experience for you. The focus is not on right or wrong, good or bad or any other absolute; the challenge is to see the subtle nuances that exist in the complexity that is humanity.
Repeatedly doing so will give you a much deeper insight into both you and others. As your perception grows, so will your ability to intelligently manage your own emotions and respond skillfully to others.
You never truly graduate from ‘You 101’; every day contains a new lesson plan.
Closing Quotes:
“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” – Robertson Davies, 1913-1995
“What you see is not what others see. We inhabit parallel worlds of perception, bounded by our interests and experience.” – Aldous Huxley,1894-1963, ‘Brave New World’
“What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.” – C.S. Lewis, 1898-1963, ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’, ‘The Screwtape Letters’
“Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” – Marcus Aurelius, 121-180 AD, last emperor of Pax Romana, an age of relative peace, calm, and stability for the Roman Empire lasting from 27 BC to 180 AD.
“Your opinion is your opinion; your perception is your perception–do not confuse them with ‘facts’ or ‘truth’. Wars have been fought and millions have been killed because of the inability of men to understand the idea that EVERYBODY has a different viewpoint.” – John Moore
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier