Hi. Back again with reason number three for why you should be liking those obstacles in your life.
So far we have: because they are a sign of progress and because they get you fit enough to enjoy your goal when you get there. Reason number 3 is taken from the world of philosophy and the arguments for free speech. A leading voice in that world is Berlin who put forward a number of arguments.
Some of the key areas relate to its purpose in helping you understand your point of view. If you were to follow a particular point of view without ever having the chance to discuss it with somebody of a different view, then these factors might arise:
1. You might actually be wrong. If you are not willing to listen to the other view, you may not discover this and you would therefore miss out on the opportunity to correct your view.
2. Being totally closed to any view other than your own amounts to dogmatism. Even if you are right, the other point of view may be correct too. You are missing out on the chance to weave the two views together in order to create an even better one.
3. Even if the other view is wrong, you will at least have had the chance to argue the case for your point and that will have helped you understand and appreciate your own point of view even more than you did prior to the discussion.
I personally think these are excellent arguments for free speech but, in line with the arguments, I am happy to discuss that!
It has occurred to me though that maybe obstacles can be thought of in the same way. Let's map them to the points above and see how they play out.
1. An obstacle may simply be an alternative goal to the one you thought you were headed for. This is perfectly feasible. You probably set your goal based on the options you thought you had available to you at the time. If you have hit an obstacle then by definition you must have now moved to a different place. Hitting the obstacle may just be a prompt to take stock of the situation and recheck that now you are where you are, there is not something better that you want even more.
2. The obstacle may just present the opportunity to add to or enhance your existing goal and weave a whole new better one
3. Hitting the obstacle gives you a chance to review your goal and the obstacle together in context. There is a strong chance that the obstacle is not the thing that you want. Hitting this close up gives you the chance to remind yourself why you have the goal that you do and to reinvigorate your efforts to head that way.
It seems to me this does fit the messages of the free speech world. So now we have three reasons to be happy when we hit an obstacle:
- We will know we are moving forwards
- We will know that we are getting fitter ready to enjoy our goal to the max when we get there
- We will have been reminded why we have our goal and we might even have weaved in a whole new aspect to that goal.
Sounds pretty good to me. The question is, will I have thought of a fourth reason by the time I write my next post?!
So far we have: because they are a sign of progress and because they get you fit enough to enjoy your goal when you get there. Reason number 3 is taken from the world of philosophy and the arguments for free speech. A leading voice in that world is Berlin who put forward a number of arguments.
Some of the key areas relate to its purpose in helping you understand your point of view. If you were to follow a particular point of view without ever having the chance to discuss it with somebody of a different view, then these factors might arise:
1. You might actually be wrong. If you are not willing to listen to the other view, you may not discover this and you would therefore miss out on the opportunity to correct your view.
2. Being totally closed to any view other than your own amounts to dogmatism. Even if you are right, the other point of view may be correct too. You are missing out on the chance to weave the two views together in order to create an even better one.
3. Even if the other view is wrong, you will at least have had the chance to argue the case for your point and that will have helped you understand and appreciate your own point of view even more than you did prior to the discussion.
I personally think these are excellent arguments for free speech but, in line with the arguments, I am happy to discuss that!
It has occurred to me though that maybe obstacles can be thought of in the same way. Let's map them to the points above and see how they play out.
1. An obstacle may simply be an alternative goal to the one you thought you were headed for. This is perfectly feasible. You probably set your goal based on the options you thought you had available to you at the time. If you have hit an obstacle then by definition you must have now moved to a different place. Hitting the obstacle may just be a prompt to take stock of the situation and recheck that now you are where you are, there is not something better that you want even more.
2. The obstacle may just present the opportunity to add to or enhance your existing goal and weave a whole new better one
3. Hitting the obstacle gives you a chance to review your goal and the obstacle together in context. There is a strong chance that the obstacle is not the thing that you want. Hitting this close up gives you the chance to remind yourself why you have the goal that you do and to reinvigorate your efforts to head that way.
It seems to me this does fit the messages of the free speech world. So now we have three reasons to be happy when we hit an obstacle:
- We will know we are moving forwards
- We will know that we are getting fitter ready to enjoy our goal to the max when we get there
- We will have been reminded why we have our goal and we might even have weaved in a whole new aspect to that goal.
Sounds pretty good to me. The question is, will I have thought of a fourth reason by the time I write my next post?!
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