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Behold the Beauty


Dale Carnegie gave us the parable of the two men who looked out from prison bars. “One saw the mud, the other saw stars.” What we see is often our choice. We can choose to see the mud or we can choose to look at the sky.

There was once a man who had a dog. He used a strategy for bathing the dog. He would take the dog to the river and throw a ball into the river. Being trained to fetch the ball whenever it was thrown, the dog would jump into the river too and fetch the ball. That swimming would be the dog’s bath. But one day the dog sprang a surprise. When the master threw the ball, the dog, instead of swimming, walked on the water to fetch it. The master was surprised. He threw the ball once again and the dog walked on water again. Maybe, it was an evolutionary step in the dog’s life.

The master wanted to show off this to his neighbour. So he asked his neighbour to accompany him to the river. The ball was thrown and the dog fetched it by walking on the river. The neighbour made no reaction. It was as if nothing extraordinary had happened. The man repeated the exercise. Still no reaction from the neighbour.

“Didn’t you notice anything special about my dog?” The man asked.

“Yeah, the silly creature doesn’t know how to swim.” That was the neighbour’s response.

The neighbour’s perceptions were conditioned as are most people’s. A dog had to swim if it entered into a river. Otherwise, it is a silly creature.

We have certain built-in notions which affect most of our perceptions and judgements. Many of these notions may be plainly wrong. Hence our perceptions and judgements will be wrong too. We fail to see miracles that actually happen around us.

Some 2000 years ago, Greek philosopher Epictetus said, “People are disturbed not by events, but by the views they take of them.” Our ‘views’ are conditioned by our inbuilt notions. Our emotional responses are the consequences of the interaction between the event that happens and our notions or beliefs about them. Life can be a lot sweeter if we keep checking our inbuilt notions/beliefs every now and then.

PS. This post is part of #BlogchatterA2Z 2023

Yesterday's: Authenticity

Tomorrow: Capitalism is fated to be sad

Comments

  1. Yes, sometimes we choose to see the glass as half empty rather than half full.Good one.

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    1. How we see matters more sometimes than what we see.

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  2. Wow! I really liked the analogy about the Dog. Perception as you say is very different for different people. When we are born we have no preconceptions about anything and our minds see things as they are. But life creates prejudices and we start perceiving things as per our views.

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    1. Some prejudices are understandable. But most people seem to have only prejudices.

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  3. This is true….it is the way u perceive things…it’s like the number 6 to those who look at the number upside down sees the number 9…they can argue all day that it’s a 9 and not a six until they change their perspective on their view. Life is based on perception and YOU chose your perception.

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    Replies
    1. Reality is a lot more complex, however, than 6 vs 9.

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  4. I was just reading a movie dialogue that said I choose to fight by seeing the good and you choose to fight by seeing the ugly. In the end we're both trying to survive but your way is not "better". The dog story was so good!

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  5. Hari OM
    Ah yes, perceptions and perspective; so much a part of any narrative! YAM xx

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  6. Yep. So many factors condition us to the world around us. Self censoring is a constant state of mind, till it isn't...

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  7. Oops, the above was me! Don't know how that happened 😅

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    1. Thanks for telling it's you :) Anonymity is associated with cowardice.

      Self-censoring is a painful affair especially in a world of frauds. I know I'm being judgemental when I speak about frauds. But tragically I see too many of them around me. Not only in politics. Alas!

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  8. Replies
    1. Yes, response should come instead of reaction. Judiciousness instead of judgement. Let's hope.

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  9. Beautifully summed up about how we can change our state of mind by looking inwards !

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  10. I love how this is explained. Yes, that is the beauty of life, how you perceive it. Isn't it strange that two people look at the same things differently. And I also love what your first letter A was authenticity! So was mine :)

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  11. This post reminded me of the time we went appartment hunting. The appartment was on 19th floor and had lovely views of the sea. But hubby's colleague who also saw the appartment, didnt stretch his eyes until the horizon...his eyes fell directly down where there was a graveyard. :) ...like you said...perception...I saw the horizon, he saw the graveyard

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    1. You've given me a point to ponder on, Harshita. I have always wondered how the Ambanis live happily in their Antilia which towers like a vulgar palace amid residences that don't even have proper water supply. Maybe, your hubby's colleague had a point. Still.. I'm thinking.

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  12. Well put. I see that kids are unconditioned and their sense of wonder helps see beauty in everything than us, the adults with so much conditioning. And parenting has helped me to some extent to unlearn and have better perceptions & perspectives.

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    1. Yes, parents and teachers can do a lot in this regard.

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  13. Yeah, there are some people, as the man in your story, who boasts about the stupid things and expects the same from others. It's difficult to deal with them. I try hard these days not to respond to them for the sake of peace.

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  14. Showing off the dog 's ability to walk on water is also borne out of flawed perception. A perception which instigates us to flaunt and secure fame even at the expense odour loved ones. I presume here that the dog was loved by his master.

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    1. Parables are highly focused on their morals. This wasn't about the showoff.

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  15. Our ‘views’ are conditioned by our inbuilt notions. 👏🏻💯

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    1. And that's the only way available now. Unfortunately.

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