Myopia

It scares me how little I know and how small we all are but how much we think we know. Does anyone feel the same way? I hate to think that some people hide in a little cave of myopia, but myopia is everywhere. If you think about it, animosity, pretentiousness, conceit, anger, depression, and even happiness are somehow tied to myopia. If we could always see the other side of things, what would our emotions be like? If we're angry, are we failing to acknowledge the precariousness of the other person's situation? If we're always happy, are we missing a depressing side of everything? If we're depressed, are we missing all that is good? I like to think the latter is true, and even if it's not, I choose to live by it obviously because it makes me happy. Perhaps our limited perspective let's us be motivated. Maybe we become ambitious because we can't see everything ahead of us. I think when I'm older I'll look back and think that things I tried were stupid, but I'll realize that if I didn't do them, I wouldn't have gained the experience that led me to do whatever it is I am glad I did.

It seems that as the human mind learns more about the world around it, things lose value. Some things that you find entrancing lose their awe when you realize that there is so much more out there, and many times, you realize you can't get to it.

The question is whether we should remain ignorant and enjoy ourselves, or strive to be wise and acquire knowledge. Unfortunately, the only way to find out is by acquiring more knowledge and becoming wise. It's a strange paradox, but since the only way to know is to become wise, we should do so.

Steps we can take to get out of the cave of myopia:

1) Be curious

Ask yourself what everyone might be thinking when people are expecting you to think your own thoughts. When you're thinking about something, think about why you are. Think about what led you to the thoughts you're having. Be skeptical of your thoughts. When you do something irrational, try to prove that it was rational. It will ultimately lead you to being more rational. When something is interesting to others and not to you, figure out why. Think about why the things around you work the way they do. Try to guess what people will say next, and try to figure out where they're thoughts might be coming from or what their premise is.

2) Be empirical

Don't be boring. Don't do the same thing everyday. Take a different way home from school or work than you normally do and try driving slow if you normally speed and vice-versa. Listen to music you normally don't. Read a book that doesn't look interesting to you. Talk to someone you don't know. Do something that makes you feel uncomfortable and get comfortable with it.

3) As banal as it sounds, consider the golden rule. (Wikipedia's definition makes it seem less cliche and more applicable, so read that if you have trouble taking it seriously.)

I hate hearing that, and it hurts to type it, and you probably stopped reading for a second after reading that, but the real value behind it isn't as cliche as the phrase. Because we cannot live inside another's mind, we have to rely on our own experiences to judge whether how we act is justified and circumspect. Before disregarding this, think about it. The best way to implement this into your instinctive, reflexive thought is when someone is angry with you for doing something, remember your thought process in that occasion. Make a conscious effort to commit to memory the defensive strategies you prepare in your mind to counter your offender. Then, the next time you are angry at someone, find this experience deep down in your brain, or at least the feelings from it, and consider them. If you do this enough, it becomes a reflex, and you'll find it increasingly easy to tolerate others. Make your anger rational. It's hard to do when you consider what the other person might be thinking.


If everyone would be little more curious and empirical, so many problems with society would be solved right away. I'm sure of it.

I feel like I'm writing some kind of self-help book on anger management or something. I don't know what happened, but I still think these things work and make people more perceptive. I don't mean to sound like I know everything about being wise. I certainly don't; these are my attempts at explaining how I think myopia can be overcome. This is really more a way for me to sort all my jumbled thoughts.