mental slavery
Got together with Max Goof this past weekend to run some errands. He saw the wonderful new printer I bought and asked to borrow it to print some stuff. (He hasn't paid me for it yet, however... ;) )
While Max, CirrusKitfox and myself were out, we got on the topic of being stuck in a mental rut. Being trapped in the slavery of your own reasoning, in other words.
Sometimes, this works to our advantage. When a person goes into his bedroom late at night, he's probably changing for bed, not for a night on the town. So we should look leniently upon someone who starts to change into a black tie, and ends up in his pajamas.
There's a problem, however, when a person enters a situation, perhaps sharing an apartment with folks, and assuming things will work out a certain way. When reality occurs, and it becomes evident things aren't working as hoped, being stuck in your rut won't help you. You'll need to work out an alternate strategy.
One of my favorite prayers includes the phrase, "free me from the slavery of my own reasoning." This is a prayer of thanksgiving. The idea behind it, I think, is that we can only imagine and plan based on our own past experience. That experience won't always be so broad and full as it should be, so we need to seek out a larger experience base, friends, coworkers, even strangers at times, in order to imagine and plan things beyond our own reasoning.
Of course, when you make a mistake, it always works to your advantage to admit it.
RC
While Max, CirrusKitfox and myself were out, we got on the topic of being stuck in a mental rut. Being trapped in the slavery of your own reasoning, in other words.
Sometimes, this works to our advantage. When a person goes into his bedroom late at night, he's probably changing for bed, not for a night on the town. So we should look leniently upon someone who starts to change into a black tie, and ends up in his pajamas.
There's a problem, however, when a person enters a situation, perhaps sharing an apartment with folks, and assuming things will work out a certain way. When reality occurs, and it becomes evident things aren't working as hoped, being stuck in your rut won't help you. You'll need to work out an alternate strategy.
One of my favorite prayers includes the phrase, "free me from the slavery of my own reasoning." This is a prayer of thanksgiving. The idea behind it, I think, is that we can only imagine and plan based on our own past experience. That experience won't always be so broad and full as it should be, so we need to seek out a larger experience base, friends, coworkers, even strangers at times, in order to imagine and plan things beyond our own reasoning.
Of course, when you make a mistake, it always works to your advantage to admit it.
RC