Challenging Your Unique Reality Of The World

The 1998 hit movie, “The Truman Show” highlighted a phenomenon we never really even notice: “Ignorance is bliss.” Christof, the writer and producer of Truman Burbank’s life said it plainly: “We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented.” Truman did because he knew no differently -- it was only after a series of technical glitches with the production of the show with which he starred that he began to question his reality.

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Is there an application here for us? I’m sure there is. We may not all be Truman Burbank’s’ but we do feature in the movie of our own lives, and there are at times realities that we might accept that are false.

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When I was a boy, I recall my mother having a saying about my occasional propensity to view things in isolation. She’d say simply, “It’s not you with the problem, it’s the rest of the world that has the problem, isn’t it?” And as I think back now, this is exactly the time when I would be seeing my particular false reality -- the reality that no one else saw; one that wasn’t relevant and wasn’t in tune with prevailing thought.

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I wonder how often we get perplexed, bemused, or frustrated with life and situations -- where in fact, our expectations and plans and ambitions get in the way of what is possible, or should that be probable. Perhaps we far too often see something as possible and go for it, when though it might be possible, it’s improbable. For instance, a hoping for the possibility of change in the heart of someone you’re at odds with. Possible, yes… but probable?

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Next time you feel that pendulum of balance in your heart and mind swinging slightly out of kilter with the established thought, run a ‘spirit level’ over your reality. Check that you are seeing things as they truly are.

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Copyright © 2008, Steven John Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.