By coming to terms with the ‘shoulds’, ‘oughts’ and ‘musts’ in our lives and by learning to ignore the insidious voices within, we open up the ability to choose for ourselves, rather than feeling as though we are being channelled along a single-track railway to nowhere.
In order to do this, our thoughts should (‘should’!) reflect reality as far as possible, so we can take responsibility for the consequences of our choices. Sounds easy, eh? The trouble is, we - like everyone else - don’t so much reflect reality as interpret it. As we often discover - either to our amusement or our annoyance - the same event can have completely different meanings to different people, even if their circumstances are the same.
What’s more, the meaning we attach to things is extremely important in determining how we feel about them. So the most powerful and influential way to exercise choice is in our ability to choose how we view reality. Perhaps the most extreme example of this is expounded by Viktor Frankl, the celebrated Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, in his book Man’s Search for Meaning. Despite the unimaginable suffering endured by Frankl and some of his fellow prisoners, they were able to find personal meaning and growth, and a way of seeing the world that created value from their experience:
‘…everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way.’
This powerful, but extreme, example can be applied to any situation in which we find ourselves, but this requires us to slough off the burden of expectation, habit, conditioning and history. It requires us to live in the present moment and view the reality of a situation as it exists in the here and now. Nor is it mere ‘positive thinking’ (there is something to be said for that too, although I am naturally quite sceptical of the concept). Instead, it involves cultivating a sense of open-hearted acceptance of each and every situation as we encounter it. Only by accepting how things actually are can we remain conscious that we have a genuine choice, and choose the attitude with which to make it.
We are also free, moreover, not to choose. In the medieval paradox of Buridan’s Ass, the animal is located exactly halfway between two equal piles of hay. In being unable to choose one over the other, the ass fails to recognise that he is, in fact, making a third choice - to starve to death.
In order to do this, our thoughts should (‘should’!) reflect reality as far as possible, so we can take responsibility for the consequences of our choices. Sounds easy, eh? The trouble is, we - like everyone else - don’t so much reflect reality as interpret it. As we often discover - either to our amusement or our annoyance - the same event can have completely different meanings to different people, even if their circumstances are the same.
What’s more, the meaning we attach to things is extremely important in determining how we feel about them. So the most powerful and influential way to exercise choice is in our ability to choose how we view reality. Perhaps the most extreme example of this is expounded by Viktor Frankl, the celebrated Austrian psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, in his book Man’s Search for Meaning. Despite the unimaginable suffering endured by Frankl and some of his fellow prisoners, they were able to find personal meaning and growth, and a way of seeing the world that created value from their experience:
‘…everything can be taken away from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms - to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s way.’
This powerful, but extreme, example can be applied to any situation in which we find ourselves, but this requires us to slough off the burden of expectation, habit, conditioning and history. It requires us to live in the present moment and view the reality of a situation as it exists in the here and now. Nor is it mere ‘positive thinking’ (there is something to be said for that too, although I am naturally quite sceptical of the concept). Instead, it involves cultivating a sense of open-hearted acceptance of each and every situation as we encounter it. Only by accepting how things actually are can we remain conscious that we have a genuine choice, and choose the attitude with which to make it.
We are also free, moreover, not to choose. In the medieval paradox of Buridan’s Ass, the animal is located exactly halfway between two equal piles of hay. In being unable to choose one over the other, the ass fails to recognise that he is, in fact, making a third choice - to starve to death.
well said
ReplyDeletecharming and
succinct
subject lacks concision but you
made it concisely
smashing
x