You Are What You Are? You Are Spiritual?

I live a very weird life. I am very introspective about life and try to internalize the knowledge and bits of information that always bombard me. I can't say I successfully do that all the time but I am trying to grasp all views of all people. This is a blog about why we do things and see the things the way we do, I call it PRTA.

Perspective - The first thing we bring to any situation is our perspective, our paradigm, our world-view. Somehow we made sense of this world around us and developed a way of dealing with it, we developed a perspective. In every situation we face we will add our perspective to it.

Can a perspective be right? I think there are some truths but perspective's are our slant on things (personal). Life is firstly perspective. I drink pop but some people (Mormons) find caffeine reprehensible and it should not be consumed (who's right?). Pop isn't the healthiest choice and maybe that defines their belief or maybe it's forbidden by God, I am not totally sure why that's a belief of theirs. If they can convince me to stop drinking pop well I just might, perspectives do change after all. A perspective is what drives your core beliefs. Core beliefs may be seen as 'true' until another perspective shows otherwise. Basically, as humans we are in a state of 'flux' in a world that is infinite. We have 'our point of view' and none others. We are changed by the things around us whether that be a car accident, something we read, someone's affair, someone is healed...everything plays a part in how we will define the world. As I said that changes.

Reaction - We live from a 'perspective' but we are changed by our reactions to new information we process; we react to things around us. Someone may believe that God is a healer, I mean that is what Jesus did a lot of. Then you pray for someone to get healed and they don't, they actually perish. You feel like your faith let you down, at least that's what you're told. But you question that and notice 'yeah you may have doubted a bit' but healing doesn't hinge upon you anyways, it's God's act. You start the chain reaction of questioning your core belief. Eventually you come to a new more moderate belief that doesn't condemn you for having 'too little faith'. You start to say 'that was God's will' and there was very little you could of done outside His will. By reacting you change the very nature of the way you believe, your view of God, and your view of yourself. Reaction is this, your view of a bullet changes when your the one shot, not shooting. But reaction is the 2nd step in a change of direction. Timing is everything.

Timing - Things happen in a certain time-frame, seconds, minutes, hours, days, months, years, etc. Some things happen in a few seconds, like a car accident, but linger for a few months. Some things happen in seconds like being shot or punched (little time to react). Some things take months, like preganancy, while birth may take hours. And some things take a longer time, like a war that may take years to resolve.

When things happen they happen in a time-frame, you have time to collect yourself (perspective), react to the situation, and then develop an outcome (action)...and that time-frame means a lot. When considering beliefs, you have a lifetime to decide what you truly believe since that may be allotted to you. When being robbed you have precious seconds to develop a paradigm for the situation and usually you're at a loss for words. But in both situations your ideas about life will change. The person challenging his beliefs 'chips away at the stone' for months perhaps; the person robbed develops feelings of fear (in an instant) that grow into ideas of 'protection' at all costs so as to never feel like a victim again. Perspective and reactions are subject to the present time you find yourself in. Now it's time to act.

Action - The inevitable result of living. I have a paradigm, I react to situations, and then I act upon what changes I have made (or not made). Actions do not proceed before belief, even the robber knows that he wants 'money' so thusly he acts; the person being robbed tries to think of what to do then he acts (even if out of fear). We are defined by our actions. Someone who is called a 'pedophile' didn't earn that because they won spelling bees. Someone called a 'doctor' didn't earn the name mowing lawns. They earned it by their actions which accordingly enough fit the name they are called.

We commit actions because that's what we are, humans 'being'. Our perspectives only change when actions accompany them, to solidify the belief. You won't do something you don't believe in. Mormons won't drink caffeine because they don't believe in it. I do however. Here is how it all fits together. My perspective about guns is that there is nothing wrong with them and all people should own one, if only for protection. I see the Columbine incident and all of a sudden I react in horror to 2 teens gunning down other teens with sub-machine weapons, for the sole case of murdering these innocent children. My reaction causes a change in my original perspective because now I think guns of that magnitude are of no use in society and should definitely not be in city homes. I then take action upon my belief. I discard my weapons (a handgun) and tell others that this is the right thing to do. Ta da.

So who cares? Well for one I do. Knowing this process makes you privy to many things. Firstly, you change the lives of indivduals around you daily with your actions, which in turn causes someone to react and change their perspective. You are what you eat, think, drink, dream, fantasize, read, watch, etc...dependant on how you internalize that stuff. Others are then at your whim because your perspective may be a driving force in someone else's life. It sounds like a big responsibility, well it isn't...that's exactly who you are. You will help others define themselves as they come into contact with you.

Secondly, who the hell are you? If you don't know then you best find out right away. You need to struglle internally with that question until you produce answers befitting your character. You need to know what you believe and why you believe it. You need to look at your reactions and question that. Basically, you need a world-view, a pardigm to live life...those without it get lost in a world of unending knowledge and dismay. If you don't know yourself and your capabilities then one day you will surprise yourself and that reaction may trouble you (and effect others).

Thirdly, no one person that I have seen has all the answers. It's alright to claim you do but you'd be lieing out your teeth. Many experiences will come your way and change the very foundation you thought was a 'rock', for no man is a rock. But even rocks are shaped by the flowing stream over time. You have a paradigm right now that is subject to change. So does every other person around you. You are not always right or always wrong but you are 'always' something. We hate to believe we don't have all the answers but to claim otherwise is just nieve.

Lastly, there is a time for everything and when these times come we have to prepare ourselves. That is why we build paradigms so we can react adequately to life and life unexpected. Without a paradigm or set of core beliefs to fall back on we are like a wild animal on concrete streets, we don't have a clue how to react to these surroundings. We have to be prepared to face the inevitable and the unknown because that's exactly what tomorrow is. But the better building and refining of our perspective the better we will roll with the situation.

What's the point? You are a spiritual being and everything you do means something. We should take heart that we mean so much to so many, although they will rarely tell you. It's a human point of view but that's all I really have to work from.