This quote was shared by a friend and has been well worth thinking about for me, in terms of how accepting I am of new cultures and ideas, how open I am to change and different ways of thinking about things. More importantly it has been useful to ask myself, how objective am I to new frameworks and attitudes that challenge my existing beliefs, especially those that are self-limiting or based entirely on a narrowly defined space of observation and knowledge. This quote challenges me to step outside my comfort zone, accept things for the essential goodness and truth in them, not for their superficial association with familiarity, and at all times to keep from being judgemental...
The Great Indian Dream
2 years ago
4 comments:
While I don't think there's anything wrong, in and of itself, with the comfort of associating with who and what is comfortable (in fact, I think most of us do this most of the time whether in our home countries or abroad); the problem comes with not going beyond the comfortable. This quote stresses how unlikely we are to grow much if we don't push that comfort zone and take advantage of new perspectives and new opportunities. The bounty of opportunities to do so is perhaps the greatest blessing of living in a foreign nation!
Something I forgot to mention to you yesterday is that I particularly love this quote because, ironically, I first saw it in an internal newsletter from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City while I was working there; it can be particularly challenging for diplomats, who move every couple years, to really take the time to get to know the peoples and customs of their new host country.
A related quote that I love provides the antidote to Colton's quote:
"Wheresoever you go, go with all your heart." -Confucius
Ya, I've heard this quote before, and it definitely made me think and introspect about how open I myself have been. On the one hand there is the idea of preserving our own roots, culture etc - but often people who live in a part of the world they did not grow up in, do this in a pretty xenophobic way, refusing to allow any of the external influences to even touch them. They choose to interact with people within their own community, and seldom look to incorporate the more positive elements of the society they live in. On the other hand, you also have people who completely give up on their roots in order to assimilate a more glamorous culture. I guess finding the right balance where, as you say, one should evaluate things objectively, and on their own merit, is what we need to try to do.
To your point about stepping outside our comfort zones, and accepting things for the essential truth in them, and challenging that which we have grown up being familiar with, here's a quote from Abdu'l Baha:
"Furthermore, know ye that God has created in man the power of reason, whereby man is enabled to investigate reality. God has not intended man to imitate blindly his fathers and ancestors. He has endowed him with mind, or the faculty of reasoning, by the exercise of which he is to investigate and discover the truth, and that which he finds real and true he must accept. He must not be an imitator or blind follower of any soul... Therefore, every man must be an investigator for himself. Ideas and beliefs left by his fathers and ancestors as a heritage will not suffice, for adherence to these are but imitations, and imitations have ever been a cause of disappointment and misguidance. Be investigators of reality that you may attain the verity of truth and life."
and another strong quote:
"Those who are uninformed of the world of reality, who do not comprehend existing things, who are without perception of the inner truth of creation, who do not penetrate the real mysteries of material and spiritual phenomena and who possess only a superficial idea of universal life and being are but embodiments of pure ignorance. They believe only that which they have heard from their fathers and ancestors. Of themselves they have no hearing, no sight, no reason, no intellect; they rely solely upon tradition."
You both make very valid points and thanks for the quotations N. Yes, only an objective process of truth-seeking and a spiritually guided openness can help us strike that balance between retaining aspects of our culture conducive to our growth and absorption of new modes of thinking/living to expand our horizons and achieve unity among various peoples.
hey aa, you write well...i've enjoyed reading some of ur posts.
on the subject of this post, i would like to point you to a short story by rohinton mistry called 'squatter' (from 'tales of firozsha baag'). it's a bit of a comedy though, unlike this post, so be prepared :)
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