Realisation #8: We shape reality to conform to our ways of
thinking
Being in the world is not a passive activity. We
engage with things and other people to create a reality that reflects our ideas,
conscious or unconscious, of how things are or should be. If our ways of
thinking are confused and fragmented then we create a world that is confused and
fragmented. If we do not understand ourselves and are full of turmoil, we create
a world where nothing makes sense and there is no peace. This is why it is
important to change ourselves before we try to change the world, and in so doing
we will find that the world has already changed.
This kind of self-fulfilling prophecy manifests
itself in all spheres of human activity. If you approach a situation full of
anger and aggression, you will find yourself in a fight. Approaching the same
situation with warmth and compassion may result in a completely different
outcome. We make the world the way that it is because this is the way that we
are. We cannot change one without first changing the other, and this is
impossible without an understanding of how the two are
connected.
When combined with the
realisation that the world reflects our ways of looking at it, we see that we
are trapped in a perpetual cycle of confirming and reinforcing our existing
perceptions. The only way to break out of this cycle is to change our ways of
thinking, which requires courage, creativity and a flexible
mind.
Posted on Thursday - July 07, 2005 at 09:48 AM
