Where Are You Coming From?
Looking Back Down The Path
Knowing where you are coming from is more than just knowing your birthplace, hometown or alma mater. In a larger sense, it is about knowing the values you hold and embrace and make decisions by.
And those values come from your past, the places you have been ... physically and emotionally ... whether we are just talking about your time on earth or out in the larger universe.
All of the experiences you have had contribute to your belief system and your sense of values. And all of the imprinting ... from your family, generation and culture ... also build or destroy those beliefs and values. Which is why it is hard sometimes when your experiences and the values others want you to adopt are in conflict.
Which do you give more value to? Which do you trust more ... your own experiences or other people's opinions? And where did those people get their opinions, values and beliefs? Are they still valid? Or have times, expectations and social mores changed? Are the values and beliefs you hold universal ... can they stand the tests of time? Or are they dependent on the specific culture or age they arose in?
Popular beliefs come and go, depending on the age. Why? Because they are popular until the truth is discovered. And Truth trumps beliefs ... so the false beliefs die out. Just think for a moment about some of the most staunchly held beliefs of their day ... the earth is flat ... the planets can't possibly revolve around the Sun ... there is a man in the Moon. {Okay, that last one is still under scrutiny ... and life beats a drum stranger than fiction}.
So, the places your are from can reveal a lot about what you believe ... and that can help you understand who your really are -- now, in the past and in your future.
With that in mind, you can answer this question at several different levels. A few questions will help you get started.
- What ideas and things are worth dying for?
- What ideas and things are worth suffering for?
- What ideas, things and people are worth living for?
- What, if lost, would make life unlivable
- What is too sacred to lose or misplace?
And where did these ideas come from? Are they based on your own life experiences Or were they supplied by someone else? If so, do you remember who? Or are they part of the assumptions about life you picked up from the actions and unspoken words of others?
Don't despair, if the latter is the case. It happens to all of us. It is how we grow up ... like sponges adopting the examples, values and beliefs of those around us who raise and care for us. And many people never question if these values, beliefs and assumptions about the world are still valid and work for all of humanity.
That is why ancient wisdom urges you to test your assumptions and values ... to experience life so you can test your ideas (and those given to you by others) to see for yourself what is true and what is not. Only then will you know.
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