Although I'll be there ostensibly be there to be doing something else (attending Jonathan Altfeld's Linguistic Wizardry workshop to keep my own speaking skills razor-sharp), I know that I'll be thinking of the history and philosophies that make that place so special and I think that standing in that place will give me a special sense of perspective.
I may or may not be able to update for a few days whilst I'm away, but I will definitely take the opportunity to share anything that I think might benefit this conversation.
I'm also grateful for the comments that I've already received about this place, even though I haven't yet taken it public. By the time most of you read this, it will be a few days from now when I'm sure that everything is working well enough to broaden the conversation and bring you in as well. And so it's also interesting for me to think of the time that I'm about to have from the point of view of someone who's reading about me leaving well after I've returned.
There's so much in the world which changes based on where and when we're standing at any given moment.Most of the time, we stand in our own shoes and view the world through our own eyes, perceiving ourselves as the centre.
Sometimes, in moments of compassion, we place ourselves in someone else's shoes and imagine what life must be like for them in their situation.
And every once in a while, we try to take a step back and allow ourselves to see a situation from the point of view of an outsider, a dispassionate observer, so that we can judge things from a clearer perspective.
And all of these positions can tell us something that we didn't already know about any situation that we may be in.
And something else that I like to suggest is to go beyond perceptual positions and to see what it might be like to take a look at things from different historical positions or cultural positions that you may be familiar enough with to understand what it might be like to see the world through those sorts of eyes. If you take the time to learn about William Wallace (and no, I don't mean watching Braveheart 10 times in a row ;) ), I wonder what things in your life will look like from his point of view? Or da Vinci's? Or Edison's? Or Twain's?Sometimes, I think it can be very useful to learn about people from different times in different cultures who did what you might consider to be great things, things that you personally find admirable and to learn enough about them to begin to understand what it might be like to look at your life and the things in it from their positions or even to imagine what they might have thought looking through your eyes at your life and the things in it...
And so, I know I'll be taking a look at things a little differently and I'll also be looking forward to having learned from the differences.
Be Well,
Michael Perez
Labels: identity, life, perceptual positions
