The Human Experience
30 Jul
For some time now I have been contemplating many deep questions and topics. One of the grandest ofthem is how an individual (such as myself) views ones self in relation to others and the world around us. Moreover how can one person create a positive and lasting impact on the world around us. To this end, I read something today that I thought was worth sharing. Read, contemplate it and enjoy.
“A human being is a part of the whole, called by us “The Universe,” a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest – a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.*
-Albert Einstein
Thanks Sarah,
part of why I am keeping this online journal is to find out what others reaction to my thoughts and observations. It is comforting to know that one is not alone in their thoughts such as this. On your comment, as with everything I am of the mind that it is about playing with balance. Although I believe that one never needs to protect ones self emotionally and mentally… at least not when you are so open that you cannot be hurt or insulted. That is the place I am moving towards. Life is only worth it if it is lived to the fullest playing with the edge of what has come before.
Keep well.
Chad
Funny how I landed on your blog, out of all the blogs out there right? But I figured I’d give your posts a shot, and found that I have been asking the same question, and here’s an answer I’ve found. Maybe it’s your as well?
For the question of yourself, and how you view those around you, I believe the answer is actually a very simple one: don’t. Why does one need to compare to another? I find that everybody has a form of an ego, some more than others, but the trick is to not have an ego at all. If you think about it, if you have no ego, nothing external (in relation to people) will bother you. I know this may be hard to understand, and it’s very possible I’m not communicating this right, but I do think that people in general shouldn’t have to be viewed in a certain way. Of course, this is just “perfect world” talk, and it’s much harder to do than to say, but, I believe if you think about that for a minute, you’ll see what I mean.
As for the impact of the world, well, the place you have to start is with yourself, which is what I think you’ve already done. Once you’ve sorted yourself out, truly, then you can move outwards, and start affecting others, therefore, starting a chain reaction. It kinda reminds me of high school, if you took on a project to big(earth), and tried to work at it all at once, nothing would really get done, but if you took a smaller piece(yourself), and worked on it thoroughly, and then did the rest at a scheduled time, things would go a lot smoother, and a lot more efficiently.
Well, those are my thoughts, and maybe they altered yours.
Cheers.