January 10, 2025: LIFE THROUGH OUR PERSONAL PRISM
"Do not make the mistake of painting the world with the brush from your personal experiences. YOUR world and THE world are not necessarily the same. "
- Detroit Flanagan
Listen to this meditation on audio:
Sometimes I wonder what the world really looks like. That seems an odd statement for an 82-year-old man to make, but I am serious. If I've learned anything during my 82 trips around the sun, it's that each one of us has a pretty unique view of the world and the diversity of people in it. The prism through which we see the world tells more of a story about who we are than about what the world is. Why else would there be such a variety of opinions on practically any subject? Some of us like people of color, and some of us don't. Some of us like white people, while others don't. The same goes for every other ethnicity on the planet. We are all liked or hated or merely tolerated by others. While there are certainly preferences that we have for certain things like our favorite colors our favorite foods or activities, at our core our belief systems, our fears, our prejudices seem to be more subjectively based than objectively based. An almost automatic dislike, or preference for certain people or things or places has to stem from something intrinsic in our nurturing rather than our nature. This prism, I speak of, which is almost definitely projected onto us by the people we've grown up with and other influencers in our growth and development, is really an amalgam of all we've seen, heard and experienced throughout our lives. It is because of my wholehearted embrace of the prism concept, that I fully subscribe to the idea that "Your opinion of me, is none of my business." Simply put, what you think of me is not really based on who I am. It's more about who you are and how the prism of your life's input creates your world view. So, your opinion of me really is none of my business. I will be the one who decides who I am.
© 2025 Detroit Flanagan
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