Wright Morris - January 6, 1910 – April 25, 1998
It’s not that often that we sit back in our little world(s) and attempt to grasp how big the world really is.
We go through our day and focus on our frustrations and convince ourselves that the problems and pains we are suffering are to be our own to bear and that there can’t possibly be anyone out there suffering as much as we are.
I think DFW in his famous commencement speech brought our self-centeredness right to us and helped us realize what silly creatures we are.
Only recently, well, within the past 8 years or so, have I really attempted to grasp the enormity of the world. Even after my trips, life and time abroad, I still failed to realize the scale of this place – planet - until recently.
I think it has only been through the education I have gained over these past years both through my day to day work and in my reading that has allowed my mind to open and to see what is really going on in this world...taking a Glimpse into Another Country.
I think that it’s the mental filters kicking in once again that only allow so much information to pass through into our minds preventing an overload of sorts.
The filters prevent the weight of the world from crushing us. Sometimes those filters malfunction...and well, you can guess what happens when the weight of the world lands on you.
How many times do you glimpse into another country?
Step off that cliff?
Run that extra mile?
Cheat death?
Walk around naked?
I thought that doing so would be difficult given my line of work. I have found this not to be the case.
It all has to do with a shift in your mental state. Knock it off a couple of degrees – (you can choose how to do that) and your everyday can become glimpses into other countries.
I have to remind myself to skew my angle of thought. Not daily...but hourly.
I have to think about how others think.
Think about what others see.
Think about what others feel.
Think about what others do.
Then – I think about what I think and see and feel and do.
And I think about other ways of thinking and seeing and feeling and doing until I know that my next step may or may not be the right one...but it will definitely be interesting.
It’s a big world.
Let your mind take you out there. It’s easier than you think.
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