Once, I and a friend of mine went to a seminar. The keynot speaker was a businessman who was very successful in his sector and had loyalties which formed a regular income and freed him to control his life. He was able to control most of his life because he had plenty of time in a day. He was not only was financially independent, but also had a lot of free time to spend on his own projects and to focus on his relationships.
The speaker had a slideshow that included photos from his life. When the seminar was over I and my friend left the room and that surprising comment came from my friend: “The whole seminar was about money!”
When I heard this comment, I felt very surprised. Because the seminarian had not mainly focused on the amount of the money he earned. Actually the most amazing thing to me about the seminar was that the speaker could spend a lot of quality time with his family. So his relationships were very fruitful and enjoyable. But this thing is not only a result of the amount of the money he earned, but a result of the income that comes as “loyalties.” In addition, the speaker had mainly focused on what advantages the way the money came to offered and the vast amount of time he could spend with his family and for his own.
Also due to the success the seminarian had, he was invited to various countries to give speeches, which meant nice holidays he could go on with his family. He could accept these invitations because he did not go to work every day. He did not sell “time” for a living.
But my friend had not noticed all of these important results. It gave me the idea that human perception may be very misleading. Actually, the person who emphasized the value of the concept-money was not the speaker, but was my friend. He had not paid attention to the whole thing and he had read what he had on his own mind: Money.
I had such an experience while I worked at the university: One day the students who visited me in my office were more than usual and the number of the female visitors and male visitors were nearly the same. One of the young teachers teasingly said: “You are very popular with female students! What is happening here?” He thought he was just kidding and I replied him: “Do not ask this question to me. Ask it to your perception. I am not popular with female students, but your perception is occupied with them, I believe. I had many male visitors today and you did not even notice them! What is happening there?” and I smiled. The response was a speechless expression on his face. Then I went to my desk and abandoned myself to my daily tasks.
Due to the fact that I often saw the people who are deceived by their own perception-mind, I started to regard my mind and perception as some parts apart from myself. I often ask the question “is my mind deceiving me, too?” For example, your perception can whisper to you that a person is greedy and so he is too careful about spending money. But actually he may be saving money to support a charity.
For example a friend of yours tells you that he can drive his family to country or somewhere else and he enjoys it, your perception may whisper to you that your friend is bragging about his car. Actually maybe your friend’s car is too old to brag about and he honestly enjoys spending time with his family and sharing this valuable thing with you.
When we see a rope from a distance, our perception whispers that it is a snake. Actually our perception is trying to protect us from a possible danger. But we should check if it is really a snake. To run away immediately is not the solution. However, many people run away immediately when their mind defines a rope to them as a snake. It sometimes sounds very funny to me!
Do you think I make a mistake by regarding my mind and perception as apart from myself and checking if what they whisper to me is true?
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A Great Movie: The Beautiful Mind
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