“We suffer primarily not from our vices or our weaknesses, but from our illusions. We are haunted, not by reality, but by those images we have put in their place.” — Daniel Boorstin
Trying to get an honest perspective on our lives can be a most difficult venture. You’ll notice that I didn’t call for our seeing reality clearly; every single person’s reality is unique to himself/herself. In fact, I’d argue that there is no objective reality, at least not one that we can perceive and agree upon.
Instead of understanding that elusive reality, we could be working to make the world a better place; but we spend a great deal of our time focused inward, trying to perfect ourselves, freeing ourselves from our “vices or our weaknesses.” Frankly, my vices are fairly harmless; a glass of wine with dinner or a chocolate chip cookie afterward. And I rarely focus on my weaknesses (at least that I’m aware of), because they are just as innocuous at this point in my life.
But I do appreciate the challenge of trying to break through my own illusions that I hold about my life.
We can spend a great deal of time convincing ourselves of the “truth” of things—whether or not the CoVID-19 is more or less serious than flu; whether modern Islam is deadly or safe, or to what degree; whether or not certain foods are harmless or dangerous. The list goes on.
Instead, we can be curious investigators. We can seek to understand a question in many situations rather than come to an immutable conclusion. We can clarify our perceptions and what we believe, rather than only looking for the data that will make us “right.”
We can try to remain open and flexible about the way we comprehend the world, while at the same time holding firmly (but not with an iron grip) to those ideas and beliefs that guide us. We will understand life and ourselves much better, and we will suffer much, much less when we give up, or transcend, our illusions.
Then we will live in truth, while we continue to grow and learn.
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