Suppose that we plan to hear a speaker whom we
really like. We are excited about it, looking forward to it, and when we are
there, we really pay attention and we hear a good talk. Then, suppose that we
go to hear another speaker, but someone comes up to us beforehand and
whispers, “I�m not very interested�this speaker doesn�t give the kind of
lectures I want to hear.” We may lose our interest, only half-listen,
and go away disappointed. Now, if the two speakers happened to switch their
talks, we would probably still have the same experience, even though they
each gave the other�s talk. And why is that? It is because what we get out of
something depends upon what we bring to it, not upon the event itself. The
appearance is that the cause of a good talk is in the speaker, but that is
only an appearance. The real truth is that the value we get out of it depends
upon what we bring to it.
Think of Newton, sitting in an orchard when an
apple fell on is head. Now, many people sat in orchards and many people saw
apples fall�why do we remember the name Newton? What was different? It was
what Newton brought to that event, not the apple falling, that was special.
We might say that it was what Newton knew, but the truth is that often the
value is in what we don�t know. For instance, most people once knew that the
world was flat, but there was one fellow who didn�t know that, which led to
the discovery that the world is round.
Einstein was known for being a genius and we
might say that he was a genius because of all he knew, but to some degree he
was a genius because of what he didn�t know.
When we give up what we think we know, we
get to learn things that we did not know. If we listen to someone with the
idea that what we believe will be confirmed, then what we get is what we
already know. If we listen with the idea that someone is wrong when we
disagree, then we get to confirm what we already know, but we don�t get to
know something brand new.
The level at which we listen is very important.
Quieting the external mind and allowing ourselves to be open, so that the
extension of our mind goes further into what we are experiencing in any given
moment is important. Being open to new ideas and to new thoughts and feelings
can be, for many, a new experience. In the Fourth Way, P.D. Ouspensky
puts it like this:
All I can say is that what you do today
makes tomorrow. So tomorrow depends on what you do today. You can change the
future right now. That is what must be understood.
Taken
from Aim: The Workbook by Peter S. Rhodes
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