Cultural Possibilities
Image by Sofia Zhuravets
Have you ever wondered about what your life would look like if you we’re born somewhere else? Or in different times? Or as someone else?
As off birth our minds are growing, at first filling themselves with all the social information and cultural possibilities that surround us, helping us to reach a certain level of mind expansion. One day we come to a point where our mind have more or less become one with the society we live in.
Without any additional input, the expansion often stops. Many settle within the cultural frame that exists, but others wish, subconsciously or not, to enlarge their minds even further. To them, the cultural possibilities that initially helped them, can now become limitations holding them back.
There are two ways to deal with this situation. One is to rebel against society, which often only leads to frustration and does nothing to lift the restrictions we experience. The other is to find alternatives ideas for our minds to indulge in.
Wondering about imaginary realms, back to basic places and advanced conditions, can help us contemplate additional cultural possibilities on our quest to gain a better understanding of who we are and life in general; and with it the realization that any culture – even the one we grew up in – is but an option and not a definite aspect of our lives.
People who gathered this level of insight often become more open to different values and more accepting of foreign lifestyles. And because of this, the expansion of their minds only increases and even accelerates. The fear of strangers and of the unknown only frustrates the natural tendency of our minds to further develop.
Don’t be afraid to fantasize about ancient civilizations, alternate worlds or alien societies. Even if they are but make believe, they contain a treasure of existential alternatives real enough to consider and internalize. Use it to outgrow the aspects of your social background that are no longer yours.
Just don’t rebel against what is. It only serves to hinder the search for and the incorporation of the options waiting to be uncovered. Not by spitting out the old, but by feasting on the new can our minds satisfy the hunger it experiences to stimulate its expansion.
April 10th, 2014
Fire & Ice by Arjay Osma
