I loved reading this! It is from one of my favourite authors, Jed McKenna, who has a way of looking at the world that will turn your worldview on its side.
What if my experiences are loosely based on fact and are nothing but perception ?
Am I even able to identify facts, or do I just see the conclusions I have drawn ?
Has someone really offended me or harmed me ? How would I know if I add context to actions and events, context that I can’t even see ? So when ‘she’ said good morning to me, I heard a snotty tone and deliberate intent to undermine me….but maybe it was just good morning ?
Is this what the Dalai Lama says when he talks about men creating suffering ?
Perception and how we interpret our world is wrapped up in a lifetime of unconsciousness. The way we interpret our world is a complicated pattern of inherited beliefs that come from our parents, our teachers, our society, our religion, the media, what we listen to and read – everything is telling us what to think and what to do.
When do I get to choose ?
Even scarier, could I choose a different experience by just changing the way I think about what is happening around me ? That could turn my entire history into nothing more than a story I created. One in which I was not the victim after all, but a prisoner of my own perceptions.
This is where I get even more scared, because if that is all true (and I suspect it is), the only person who has ever stopped me is…me!
Dare I own my experiences ? Dare I not ?