You’ll have guessed, by now, that I am an incredibly inquisitive, analytical man.
The reason I focus strongly on principles, as opposed to rules, is because I want a solid underpinning to my beliefs and, thus, my behaviour.
When we act, we all make certain assumptions, there is a pragmatic nature to what we do and we need to function on a daily basis but how many of those assumptions go unquestioned?
And the assumptions are multifarious.
Scientific knowledge
The state of human nature
Where we grew up
Who brought us up
Everything is obvious to us individually because it’s the experience we’ve had. It is ‘normal’ but what you find when you talk with people is how different the average person’s upbringing has been. Sometimes it’s radically different (and often opposing) to yours.
Everyone appears to have had some really dramatic thing or things happen to them that you’d never guess from looking at them. There’s no doubt in my mind that everyone is fighting many battles and doesn’t know how to deal with them.
They plod along or put up with what is actually really traumatic psychological and physical difficulty. We hear about meditation and retreats and living as hermits a lot now because people’s brains are just fried. I’ve felt this myself.
It’s why I’m curious. I want my behaviour based on truthfulness and solidity. I’ve let myself be blown by the wind on many an occasion. It’s been rather baseless and chaotic. Stressful!
And this is all open-ended for me.
Figuring things out……