If you have children, you’ll know that understanding isn’t something you serve up on a plate with the expectation that, once devoured, enlightenment will follow. Its generally accepted that a series of breadcrumbs will need to be laid out that ultimately lead to the intended goal, where the unsuspecting mind can exclaim at the new perspective and delight in it’s findings, therefore remembering both the experience and the context.
It’s the same in life. We cannot expect people to understand either concepts or each other without first digging a little deeper to build the wider picture of the points in question. And even then, it’s my experience that people have to want to gain the full picture in order to reach a place of understanding; without that, there will never be full recognition.
In today’s world, I have observed much judgment – of self and others. That judgment is the result of being unable to see the wider picture and how it fits in a wider context. Those judgments give way to unidentified feelings of being different; those feelings disturb the inner peace that we all subconsciously seek. When something doesn’t sit comfortably within, it becomes a subconscious thorn – not in the side, but in the mind. So we find that judgment is not the cause of the inner disruption, merely a reaction to it.
So why do we find it so tedious to seek understanding? Why are so few people curious enough to want to find context to the questions in their mind and instead seek ‘off-the-peg’ answers that may not even be trustworthy? Why do we assume that understanding only relates to our own tiny segment of the world at large?
I would postulate that it’s confusion about who we are as individuals that makes us judge others, to lash out in random ways that reflect our own internal struggle to feel valid.
Perhaps the response to the above is that people require large amounts of time and effort that they see no point in expending. Time and effort are resources we may not wish to spend on causes we perceive are beyond our own needs or wants. We become lost in the perspective of our own inner world and yes, judge what we ‘need’ to invest time and energy into – rightly or wrongly.
Today’s culture has allowed us to live independently, only engaging with the wider tribe for work and the like as we please. It’s easy to become self-obsessed with our own needs or wants instead of panning out, widening our perspective.
Those with fixed modes of thinking don’t generally allow their minds to wander to such questions as “What if …?” and prefer to stick with what is predictable. That old adage of the horse being taken to water and not wanting to drink comes to mind here.
And yet, if we are to cohabit comfortably and work effectively, there is a very basic starting place for us all to begin; that place is to find understanding within ourselves first and foremost.
If we can comprehend our souls’ intention and how we are designed to function, we stand a much better chance of understanding the way we fit together with others – or not.
We will have a natural understanding of each other through the senses and therefore won’t waste time trying to engage with those we don’t fit with. There will naturally be less resistance and more harmony. Is that something that appeals to you?
Context is everything. Fitting your pieces into the right picture can produce amazing results – with ease. This is the purpose of knowing the self or … achieving understanding.