In my previous text I briefly mentioned the benefits and the trade offs of the human mind understanding via perceptions. One of the points I made was that perceptions are often misunderstood, a point which I would like to expand on now and attempt to provide some routes to avoiding such problems.
The first thing that should be noted is that the problem does not lie immediately with the perceptions themselves, but rather with the mind of the beholder of these perceptions and this is most inherently seen when two or more people attempt to converse and each try to convey a certain meaning via describing their perception to another.
Each of the persons involved has a different mind, that is an important concept and can be used to explain why people sometimes get into wasteful conflict when a few simple measures could provide a much more effective and efficient solution.
Let us take, for example politics be they politics of a country or a small organization. When politics arise, it is essentially due to there being more than one person who believes that they can see ways in which to improve the workings of the relevant organization. Think of any example you wish but most often you will note that when two people have differing ideas, it can often appear to be the hardest thing that these differing ideas be assimilated with each other and allow the two people to work together effectively, even if they have the same ideas and aims. Why is this?
If the two have the same ideas and aims, then the problem must lie elsewhere. Their minds are attempting to work towards the same goals yet due to the differences in the minds which I mentioned before, each prefers to work towards that goal in a different way. Sometimes these different ways can be easily incorporated, but when they cannot, all hell breaks loose.
This conflict arises when either of the involved fails to correctly understand why the other is suggesting, and/or doing something and the problem can lie at one of two locations. Firstly it may be down to that person not explaining their ideas properly, or not explaining them at all. On the other hand it may be that one person has their mind set in a fashion so that it is more likely to reject these ideas as opposed to accept them.
In the latter case it is not always possible to do much in order to overcome the problem unless there are certain polocies and protocols to refer to that might perchance wake the person to their closed-mindedness. One can attempt to reformat their ideas and their presentation in an alternative fashion although in the most extreme of cases, no amount of refashioning will cause the person to open their mind.
Most of the problem arises when people have the "I'm right, your ideas don't fit with mine so you're wrong" mindset. Sometimes the ideas don't fit at first, sometimes they do but even if they do and this mindset is present, things are going to be more complicated than they need be.
Subconsciously each person thinks that only one view can be right. So to them it makes sense that if only one view is right and they are right, then the other person is wrong. So back to the situation. Both individuals (or they could just as easily be groups) are caught up in their way of thinking.
The possible outcomes are that one conceeds to the other, the two agree to disagree and walk away or a conflict ensues often without any real solution. It is the very stubbornness of the human race that brings rise to this as these concepts are inground into us by the society we live in.
For this reason, I would advise anyone to work on the following concepts:
- Thinking ahead
- Using all information
- Being open to new information
- Being Patient
- Knowing when to act and when not to
- Acknowledging, even if you don't understand that other people can and will have different views to you.
These concepts are part of being mindful and aware. Planning whilst allowing your plans to be flexible is essential because the planning will prepare for upcoming events whilst the flexibility allows for unexpected turns of events and prevents one from being too rigid to allow themselves to adapt to changing conditions. So next time you find yourself in a situation where you disagree with another on fundamental concepts, try not to think of them as wrong simply because their ideas or principals do not appear to fit with yours, stop and think. See if there is anyway you can change your approach to make it more acceptable, one of the ideas of thinking before you act. This can be an especially useful tool, though in life situations there may not be a great deal of time available for thinking. On the internet though, it is much more easy as one can write down their ideas, pause and re-read them yet so few people do. My advise to anyone when posting on a 'hot topic' is to not jump right in and throw in your pennies worth, but to take your time, think and write the post and save it to a text file. Leave it a while, go take a shower or get something to eat and then come back to reread what you have written and see if you really like it.
There are flaws with this approach though...but I have yet to find anything without 'flaws'. If you spend too much time thinking and not enough time acting, you can clog up the works just as much. You need to get the right balance and note that different situations may require longer or shorter periods of thought, and some very little.
If you get used to these methods you will find that the time your thoughts take to process becomes less. This can be explained biologically. For a thought to occur, a pathway of neurons in the brain fires which is unique to that thought. The more neurons in the pathway, the more distinct the effect. Whilst at first one may find something hard, they only have a few neurons dedicated to that pathway. If one keeps using the pathway it will develop and more neurones will be dedicated to that pathway, thereby making it more efficient.
This is all very good, but one must be cautious not to get too caught up in any one way of thinking that their brain develops in a manner that prevents them from making use of any others.
There is a tie with patience here, not just learning to wait before you act...but to wait the appropriate time before you act be it a few seconds or a few years. Some things cannot be rushed and may lose their potential value if pushed through before they are needed, but to that tone many opportunities may be wasted be letting the moment pass. Use patience to improve the effectiveness of your actions and your timing, but don't let your logic confuse you.