Context Matters. ilikehowyouthink.com
@jessekelber Your story about the monk out of his normal context makes me think about how we like to find others like us, see ourselves represented in books and movies etc in daily life. We need a context where we don't stand out as 'the only one'.
@Miraz Exactly! One of the other threads I’ve been thinking a lot about is how we modify that appearance based on how we WANT to be seen, and what can happen when that version of ourself doesn’t line up well with who we actually are. That dissonance seems to be doing a lot of damage to a lot of people right now and I’d love to find some ways to help more people realize that’s what they’re doing and how to stop and realign the external with the internal.
@jessekelber At first I thought you meant realigning the external world then I realised you meant realigning our external selves. The external world needs to adapt too. I'm thinking about situations like being the only lesbian in the room, being the only person from some distant country in the room, and so on.
@Miraz 100% agreed. There’s a lot about the world as a whole that still needs to catch up to the reality of today. And you and I are mostly dealing with things that aren’t immediately apparent when someone new looks at us. For me, I’m thinking of things like being an INFJ/HSP and how that affects how I interact with the world around me, let alone with strangers or new environments. Or being a Jew and the fact that when I’m not wearing a Kippah, I don’t necessarily look Jewish (that would be the input from my biological father, Norwegian and French Canadian, from what I’ve been told). It all interacts and intermingles to form both how the world sees us, and how we see ourselves. It’s when both of those don’t also align with the reality of who we are inside that is holding my fascination right now.