If you work a lot on yourself, you always end up learning things you can't explain to others.
When you approach life intellectually, because it has been your best weapon until now, you tend to think that if you understand something clearly, then you can express it as clearly.
But just like it's impossible to explain blue to a blind man, it's impossible to explain realizations about what happens inside yourself, to people outside. Or maybe you'll find a way (E.G: frequency for colors), but it will have no impact on the other party because the experience it what matters.
It's weird, but there are actually a lot that happens to us that we have no vocabulary for. Or no language tools, or even shared concepts, for. It's very frustrating, espacially if you are particularly good at putting things in words.
I like step by step explanations to get a grap on things. It infuriated me when I had to learn practices that weren't taught that way. It felt such BS. But I now know that it's not. It's just our way of communicating is limited, like everything in the human condition. And the more you practice, the more you see things you didn't notice before in yourself. It's no surprise we got no word for something we seldom pay attention to.
Knowing that now, I understand why so many self-help practices seems so full of shenanigans: testimonies look irrational, full of terrible analogies and symbolism, or flat "duh, bro".
Plus, people create complicated believe systems around their experience and mix up everything. We are so desperate for the extraordinary that we will make it up at any occasion. E.G: meditation is a very mondain activity, but the term is loaded with a lot of stereotypes, expectations and mythology.
It's confusing, and doesn't scream credibility.
Also, we reuse the same labels for totally different things. I've seen hundred of people taking about psychedelics or meditating, and they do it in vastly different ways.
If you take LSD at a party, it's not the same than in a guided ceremony. If you medidate 10 minutes singing a mantra, it's not the same than a 10 days silent retreat, etc.
Then, add variety in people, the fact experience can't be measured, that there is no way to be objective about it, the placebo effect, history, culture, politics, moral, religion, other believes, etc.
When you approach life intellectually, because it has been your best weapon until now, you tend to think that if you understand something clearly, then you can express it as clearly.
But just like it's impossible to explain blue to a blind man, it's impossible to explain realizations about what happens inside yourself, to people outside. Or maybe you'll find a way (E.G: frequency for colors), but it will have no impact on the other party because the experience it what matters.
It's weird, but there are actually a lot that happens to us that we have no vocabulary for. Or no language tools, or even shared concepts, for. It's very frustrating, espacially if you are particularly good at putting things in words.
I like step by step explanations to get a grap on things. It infuriated me when I had to learn practices that weren't taught that way. It felt such BS. But I now know that it's not. It's just our way of communicating is limited, like everything in the human condition. And the more you practice, the more you see things you didn't notice before in yourself. It's no surprise we got no word for something we seldom pay attention to.
Knowing that now, I understand why so many self-help practices seems so full of shenanigans: testimonies look irrational, full of terrible analogies and symbolism, or flat "duh, bro".
Plus, people create complicated believe systems around their experience and mix up everything. We are so desperate for the extraordinary that we will make it up at any occasion. E.G: meditation is a very mondain activity, but the term is loaded with a lot of stereotypes, expectations and mythology.
It's confusing, and doesn't scream credibility.
Also, we reuse the same labels for totally different things. I've seen hundred of people taking about psychedelics or meditating, and they do it in vastly different ways.
If you take LSD at a party, it's not the same than in a guided ceremony. If you medidate 10 minutes singing a mantra, it's not the same than a 10 days silent retreat, etc.
Then, add variety in people, the fact experience can't be measured, that there is no way to be objective about it, the placebo effect, history, culture, politics, moral, religion, other believes, etc.
And you got yourself a puddle of mud.
But it's worth exploring, I swear.