Ever sat down with someone to discuss a common experience only derive an almost polar opposite interpretation of it? How can it be that two persons can observe or experience the “same” thing and yet have such different takeaways?
On this premise, I will argue that experience is the least important thing we should concern ourselves with at the beginning. What we actually should be focusing on, both on ourselves as well as our children is the cultivation of Ethnical Integrity. Let me list out the 5 tiers in their order of importance.
Ethnical Integrity, motivation, capacity, knowledge and lastly experience
Let’s break it down. First, ethnical integrity, integrity here can be understood as a state of being. Like wet, dry, broken or intact. To have an integrity problem is to say that one’s core being is somewhat compromised in such a manner which renders one’s disposition somewhat inconsistent. Let us not forget that even thieves have their own form of integrity. Integrity alone and by itself is amoral. Hence the need to give it an orientation, hence the concept of ethnical, that is to say, that whatever ethnic a person subscribe to, be it Weber’s idea of the Mature man, incorporating Conviction and responsibility, or Kantian ideas of reason, that person should and must maintain an “ethnical stable stance” during the course of the person’s life.
Once one has picked the set of ethnics which will be the guiding force of his life, one should be steadfast, only allowing alteration which stems from episodes of self-reflection and ever weary of the introduction of induced input of unguided circumstances.
Once the course vector has been calibrated, the velocity needs to be verified. The inner turbine needs to be driven. A reservoir must be allowed to accumulate. Progressive training, a disciplined mind, positive reinforcement, encouragement and other such social conduits are the streams which help channel energy into this reservoir of self-confidence, held back by the dam of ethnical integrity. When unleashed upon the turbines of oneself, the self-confidence would be channelled into a great self motivational force which would be directed into the capacitors of one’s life.
With a stable stream of motivation held behind a dam forged of steadfast ethnical integrity, no task would seem too daunting, no challenge too great. One’s capacity would only stretch, and one’s potential would be limitless, because with the reservoir at one’s back, trees becomes twigs, pools become puddles. The capacity to learn would be insatiable, the thirst unquenchable. What is the capacity for, it’s to create a vacuum, to render you aware of a void and spark a desire to acquire knowledge.
Once capacity has been cultivated, learning seizes to be a chore, it becomes a joy. Knowledge becomes weightless, no longer does it take the form of a bladder on the camel’s back, it evolves into the wings of an eagle. Knowledge and learning transcend the form of an anchor and becomes an enabler. The quality of knowledge would be rich in both breadth and depth because it was driven by a motivation laced with confidence and held in check by ethnical integrity.
When all of the above are primed and set, one would then generate different interpretations of the experiences of one’s life. Ethical integrity, motivation, capacity and knowledge embody the role of mirrors and lens which help us to focus our life experiences into sharp imagines, clear our vision of the horizons, block out the rays which would poison our reservoirs, enrich and refine our experiences.
Do not get ahead of ourselves and pursue experiences for the sake of accumulating volumes of unintelligible sensory sensations. Without the lens, light is just light, but with good enough lens, and skilled positioning, the lens can help focus the light into a laser, a laser to help craft our destinies.
And that is why Army was a meaningful experience for some, and a waste of time for so many others, why a relationship can destroy someone and yet strengthen another, why some stand and why some fall.
Have you gotten ahead of yourself?
No comments:
Post a Comment