Yesterday, I talked about projecting the world. Today is a new day.
At the same time, knowledge is an equally important half of the whole. We cannot have one without the other. I remember as a kid I used to think that pepper jack cheese was disgusting despite never having tasted it. One day my dad asked me, "have you ever tried it?" I replied, "no," and he responded with, "well, then how do you know it tastes bad?" It was a simple question, but after thinking it through I decided to try it. To this day it's one of my favorite cheeses. Funny how life works like that.
We all know the saying "don't judge a book by its cover", yet despite being so simple it can be difficult to put into practice. Something I try to keep mindful of is not talking about things I don't know about. Politics, for example, is one of those things where I'm not very informed of. I'm open to listen to other people and think about it, but I honestly don't know the topic well enough to really discuss it.
However, some people are so passionate about tings that they end up immediately dismiss or condemn those who don't conform to their ideals. Some people are too quick to judge things based on face-value when we don't actually know anything about them.They forget to consider that there are other points of view. As such, I try not to judge other people's views because I probably won't know the whole story of where they're coming from. There could be something I'm not seeing from their viewpoint that makes their choices make sense to them.
One way we can come to learn from and understand the world around us is to practice empathy, which starts with letting go of our assumptions and keeping an open mind. To not rush to conclusions and always consider that there are still things left to understand. In doing so we can create experiences that are truly our own and not reliant on our conditioning. To me, this is the art of freedom.
Peace
"If you want to understand what a watermelon is, you take a watermelon, get a knife, and cut the watermelon. Then you put a slice in your mouth. Boom! YOUR experience." - Seung SahnThere's a HUGE difference between knowledge and experience. You can study as long as you want about music theory, but when it comes time to actually play the piano you probably won't perform all that well. You might know conceptually what sounds good and what to play, but you don't have the actual experience of hearing the notes, playing the keys, putting your own expressions in, and the feel of playing something. You lack experience. The same is true with any skill. Without experience we won't have a complete understanding.
At the same time, knowledge is an equally important half of the whole. We cannot have one without the other. I remember as a kid I used to think that pepper jack cheese was disgusting despite never having tasted it. One day my dad asked me, "have you ever tried it?" I replied, "no," and he responded with, "well, then how do you know it tastes bad?" It was a simple question, but after thinking it through I decided to try it. To this day it's one of my favorite cheeses. Funny how life works like that.
We all know the saying "don't judge a book by its cover", yet despite being so simple it can be difficult to put into practice. Something I try to keep mindful of is not talking about things I don't know about. Politics, for example, is one of those things where I'm not very informed of. I'm open to listen to other people and think about it, but I honestly don't know the topic well enough to really discuss it.
However, some people are so passionate about tings that they end up immediately dismiss or condemn those who don't conform to their ideals. Some people are too quick to judge things based on face-value when we don't actually know anything about them.They forget to consider that there are other points of view. As such, I try not to judge other people's views because I probably won't know the whole story of where they're coming from. There could be something I'm not seeing from their viewpoint that makes their choices make sense to them.
One way we can come to learn from and understand the world around us is to practice empathy, which starts with letting go of our assumptions and keeping an open mind. To not rush to conclusions and always consider that there are still things left to understand. In doing so we can create experiences that are truly our own and not reliant on our conditioning. To me, this is the art of freedom.
Peace
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| Our experiences are something that shape who we are. They are a reflection of us just as our views reflect what we gain from them. |
What experiences are yours and YOURS only?
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