One Fact Blew My Mind But The Other Fact Stitched It Back Together
Sometimes I think about how out of anybody who has ever existed, I’ve only ever been in this body. What makes me special and important enough to see things from my perspective in a way that will always be different than seeing it from someone else’s?
And how can everybody else have existences if I can’t access them? Are others really conscious of their lives the same way I am? If so, why can’t I access their consciousnesses?
It is a really impressive feature of our existences. Oddly I can’t find any discussion about this through a Google search. What inspired me to write about this what that I accidentally came across a thread where somebody mentioned it but nobody in the chat really got what they were talking about. This was the first time I heard anybody else reference this idea, except for possibly my brother. But for a fact this crazy, how are people not acknowledging it? This concept was as obvious as day to me since I was a very small child.
Photo by Peter Conlan of Unsplash
I personally find that this understanding of existence can knock me into a trap of feeling like I’m some sort of chosen one. Up until recently, my instinct was to assume that I will obviously be a successful and important person once I graduate from university. Why else would I be the only person I have first-person access to? But then I started to feel differently. Do you want to know what caused this change?
The biggest factor wasn’t an understanding that I am human just like anybody else. It was a change in career preferences.
Even with my previous career plan, which would have meant a more public life, I would try to get myself to understand that I may not reach the heights that I would naturally assume. But I had a lot of trouble believing it. I don’t know the number of living, conscious beings on earth, but it’s a really big number. So big that it would seem that if I was just a normal person, I wouldn’t be experiencing myself any different than I would be experiencing others. What would make me special enough to never take control of anyone else’s life?
Anyways, this illusion is very powerful and dangerous because if we don’t directly experience or sense something, it’s not as real to us. I can’t truly believe other people’s lives are real because I can’t sense their existence the same way I sense mine. And if I am not special, then why do I directly experience my life and not anyone else’s?
Photo by Mauro Mora of Unsplash
But if I have a more anonymous career, I have a much lower chance of experiencing something that would validate my sense of uniqueness. I would likely have an average paycheck, average hours, and not gain any fame. Even though I am still an undergraduate student, it has already been starting to humble me more.
But I won’t reach the point where I 100% truly understand until late in my career. This is because, as mentioned earlier, you don’t believe something completely until you actually live it yourself, through your own consciousness. I will only find out my true destiny when I am much older.
Except not everybody will have a career out of the range of public eye. That’s fine, we shouldn’t judge people for that. The point is, real life is the best form of motivation so it’s important to not let our perspective overtake reality.
This article was originally posted onto Medium on April 25, 2022, when I was still an undergraduate student (https://medium.com/illumination/one-fact-blew-my-mind-but-the-other-fact-stitched-it-back-together-5640702ad7d7?source=friends_link&sk=1b5cacbc4680952502f155d0f365a64f).
#SelfPerspective #Humility #Perspective #Consciousness #Careers