Dear readers,
I'd like to share with you a thought, a quote, and a question. Here goes:
A THOUGHT:
Most of the time when you go to see a play there is only one stage. All of the events take place on that one stage, before everyone's eyes. Everyone is watching the same thing.
But there is also a play called Tamara by John Krizanc, where actors are spread out across 10 or 11 different rooms. They all perform at the same time. The audience (rather than sitting down) walks through the different rooms and sees different bits and pieces of the same production. The result: No two people see the exact same play.
I think this is a good metaphor for what happens in life too. The world, "reality", whatever you want to call it - it takes place on a billion different stages and is constantly unfolding. We don't have access to all stages. We can't possible watch all of them. Instead we only see what happens right in front of us, in our own personalized series of scenes. But that differs from person to person. None of us can understand the entire play because each of us sees a different version of the same massive performance. So in that sense nobody's version of reality is truer than the next, rather everyone's perception of reality is true to some extent, but also... incomplete.
So the next time you think you know better than the person you are talking to (and let's be honest, we all do), remember Tamara.
A QUOTE:
I love quotes, and I think that this one by Aristotle ties in nicely to Tamara and the thought above.
"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."
Pretty good, right? It's easy to disagree with someone. But it's a real challenge to try to understand someone you don't agree with. That one is harder to do. I think Aristotle's quote is just as relevant today as it was 2,300 years ago when he first wrote it. Although at that time it probably looked more like this:
"Είναι το σημάδι ενός εκπαιδευμένου μυαλού για να είναι σε θέση να διασκεδάσει μια σκέψη χωρίς αποδοχή του" (probably not, but thanks anyway google translate)
A QUESTION:
Eh hem... lastly, it's not every day you get the attention of 22,563 people, so here goes a big shot in the dark. Does anyone know of any apartment vacancies or job openings in Amsterdam? Particularly in the field of International Education. I know I would regret it if I didn't at least ask. =)
Thanks for reading!
Patrick Cahill
[email protected]
Amsterdam, Netherlands