Shining Thru

Self Perception and insecurities can play a huge role in how you see the world.  It’s always surprising that a lot of the problems that people have with the world are really based around insecurities that they have about themselves, the things that keep them from being self confident in how they look, act, or simply are….

Many people complain about other people or the way the media portrays people because they are insecure with that exact opposite about themselves…I never realized it before I had a conversation with a friend who pointed it out, but they were right…you very rarely hear a confident person complaining about other people, or the society that we live in…they just make it work because they are confident in who they are and don’t care what anybody else has to say or even think about it.

And in truth, it shouldn’t matter what anyone else has to say about you,  because honestly, you are none of their business.  Granted, everyone has a different life experience and therefore see things differently…the things that annoy me, or irritate me, may be the things that you enjoy and are glad to see in our world….a lot of it is based on our background, but a lot of it is also based on who we are as a person.  If we are confident in who we are and what we do, then we shouldn’t have anything to worry about.  I realize that sometimes that is easier said than done, but it should be the case.

I think it’s funny that as I stop and think about all of this, it is the people who are constantly saying how they don’t care what other people think, and make it a point that everyone knows that they don’t care, who seem to have the most insecurities.  The ones who are promoting others not to do something because it is what society pushes for, are the same ones who try to talk themselves up or others down while condemning all society.  Maybe it’s time for those people to take a look and do a little self examining before they go off about what’s wrong with this group of people or that group, or society in general…..

I don’t think it’s a bad thing for any of us to take another look and at least be knowledgeable about the fact that our self perceptions greatly affect our perceptions of society and the world that we live in.

Gliding along the smooth surface

Nice and gentle, but restless

Peaceful and calm, yet face paced

Life and the whirlwinds of the world

Chatter and Clatter,

Spacious and Graceful

The things of life’s wordless conversations.

Images floating in the mind

Gently out into space,

A never ending dance of thoughts and flashes

Images taken in during the day

Gestures you put out to others

In dreams things play out

As the clouds of our reality are filled

Body language, sunsets, signs, and signals

All coming together for mental conversation

It’s interesting to think that we only see the world through our perspective, it’s like we wear blinders to the rest of the world or to the way other people see it.  The way we were raised is “normal” to us, but to someone a block away may have lived a completely different life growing up and might think that your way of life is odd and unusual.  There is nothing wrong with the fact that I don’t think that “normal” actually exists, at least not past our own reality and concept of it.  The problem is when we don’t stop to consider or respect the fact that other people are going to see things differently than we do.  The way we see things is only our perception.  We can’t dream of what might go through someone else’s mind, even if they are in the same situation as you and seeing the same thing as you, they could be and probably are having a completely different experience from you, especially if they have grown up living a different life style than you. 

I don’t understand why people can’t stop to consider that their way isn’t the only way, and just because people see things differently doesn’t make them wrong.  I wish people could open their eyes and see things beyond what is right in front of them.  A lot of time people choose to be blind to certain things…I think that politicians do it all the time.  Things like public education is changed all of the time by politicians, but the likelihood of their children going to public education and having to deal with the result of the laws being passed is slim….if there is any chance at all…their kids are going to private school, and therefore I can’t imagine that these politicians have any idea what it is like for a teacher to have to stand in a public school classroom and try to enforce a law made by a politician that has never had to teach or deal with their child in a classroom that has to abide by the law. 

I think that we are all guilty of being blind to another person’s point of view at one time or another, but I think that as a society we should work harder to find acceptance in our differences and simply be open to the fact that not everyone sees things the same and everyone’s experiencing something differently, despite the fact that we are all in the same country…we should really take the time to consider what another person might be seeing or experiencing.

I was watching a very interesting show on the National Geographic Channel today called “Inside a Cult.”  It was a very interesting documentary about several of the big religious cults that have been exposed in the US.  The show focused on the compound of Strong City.  This group believed their leader was the Messiah, but their “Messiah” ends up not being able to accurately predict the end of the world and instead is instead taken and prosecuted for sexual relationships with minors that also lived on the isolated compound.

One of the most interesting parts of the documentary was when it showed the members rejoicing over what was suppose to bring about a change in body for their “Messiah” but yet nothing happened that day.  As it turned out the world did not end on October 31, 2007.  They had a psychologist who studied different cult behaviors, she kept being brought on to interject comments on what was happening.  After we saw the members rejoicing despite the fact that nothing happened on the date that had been proclaimed, the psychologist came on and stated that in cases like this where the cult has completely consumed their lives, instead of abandoning the beliefs that they are hanging on to, it is easier for them to distort their perception of reality to match their beliefs….Strangely enough none of the members or the leader would comment on his supposed change in body. 

Although the psychologist was referring to the mindset of cult members, I have to wonder how often people do the same thing in every day life…..How often do people want and/or need something so badly that they begin to alter what is real around them to make themselves feel better.  Some people would argue that is all religion is in general.  Others would argue that is all life is….what is reality???  Isn’t everyone’s reality how they perceive it, even if  it is not what is actually real, what is real is what we believe to be real.  How can we tell the difference between actual reality and our perception of reality?

Do we all live in an altered reality?  If so, what is it that makes us decide who is a part of it and who is not “normal”?  Maybe there is a common understanding of the reality that we all experience…  Look at it like this, if there is a fight that happens and ten people are watching the two people fight.  There are twelve different interpretations of what happened for things it escalate into a fight.  All versions of the story might have comment threads, but everyone’s perception will be just different enough to be declared their version of the story, their truth.  Is this how life works?  We all live with the common grounding to the world, but have our own perceptions from then on?