You Are Legion

Daily Meditation — 4/7/2022

You are not simply Jane. Or Bill. Nor am I simply Lucas.

You are comprised of many threads, much like a beautiful tapestry.

Your political beliefs.
Personal history.
Friendships.
Geneology.
The culture surrounding you.

And so on…

And all these facets at the meta level effect one another. One who was raised in a progressive home and community filled with diversity is likely to support these things, politically…
These all entwine into the tapestry that is you.

However, often you allow these threads to become prison bars around your mind. Your identity locks you into place and, in an effort to exclaim “I knew I was correct!” you comfort yourself with an echo chamber of similar thoughts and beliefs.

Strive for compartmentalization, but giving these compartments the option to access one another.

Place your political beliefs in a compartment and gently close the lid for a moment, removing this from yourself as you listen to dissenting thoughts you don’t agree with.
Absorb them.
Seek to understand that individual, not just their movement, and understand they too have a complexly woven tapestry of history that reinforces their beliefs…beliefs which are neither good nor bad, nor right or wrong. They just are.

Be able to extricate your religion, politics, personal history, culture — every aspect of your reality — from your very being allows you to experience temporary holding of multiple thoughts and opinions on topics.

You don’t have to agree with that which you may vehemently oppose. In fact, it would be an affront to yourself. But, in seeking for wisdom and balance as a Eudaimonic we need to understand all elements and sides of the world…

…and understand we don’t always need to hold an opinion on each and every thing.

Follow for daily philosophical meditations.

These are distillations from my coming book “YouDaimonia: the Ancient Philosophy of Human Flourishing.”