Column: Eliminating the mental barriers that hide opportunities
One summer, I was trying to decide what I wanted to do after my semester ended. I thought if I could not find an internship it might be fun to just drive to a random state to live in for a while, like Kansas, in order to expand my worldview and get a new experience.
Why would I sit at home when I could live somewhere new?
When I ran this idea by a friend from my hometown, he was astonished. He thought my proposal was ridiculous. To him, there were only two modes of being: There was his time at university and time away from school living with his parents. There were no other options for him. It would have been one thing if he had considered other options and chosen rationally to reject them. He instead had an arbitrary mental barrier that prevented him from even considering options outside of that dichotomy. These types of mental barriers are often imposed on us by the expectations of others and can prevent us from realizing how much freedom we have in this life.
Having personal beliefs about the world is a critical element of the human experience. There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but it becomes an issue when these beliefs are based on nothing more than expectations or random exposure. A clear example of this is the “accident of birth” phenomenon, the fact random circumstances determine so much about us. This is especially important to consider in the religious domain. The greatest predictor of someone’s beliefs is where they were born and who they were born to. Many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Utah would not be of their faith if they were born in a place like Pakistan.
Given the beliefs we possess may or may not align with our real identity, it is imperative we question the principles our ideologies and mental barriers are predicated on. This does not stop at summer plans or whether or not you believe in your parents’ religion but applies to every aspect of our lives.
Do you really want to go to college? What does going to college mean, and is it worth it? Do you actually want to get married, or have you been socialized into the idea? What does it mean to work? Are there alternative options for employment, like saving and going to a country with a low cost of living? The list of questions is endless. It is not a one time process but a mindset that needs to be adopted.
I do not believe people should callously reject the values they have been taught. To do so would only mean transferring from one ideology to another, replacing one rigid set of beliefs for another. Instead, we should break individual components of ideologies, look at every variable individually, and view life as a series of countless, inexhaustible decisions. For example, it is well within your right to drop out of school. Just consider every variable of such a decision before taking such a drastic step.
Plato’s allegory of the cave is the most famous representation of combating societal expectations. In the story, prisoners are held captive in a cave and rewarded for identifying the shadows on the wall. This is all they had known their entire life. Eventually, one prisoner “wakes up” and suddenly realizes he can leave the cave. Outside his is met with the glorious freedom of the outside world and the marvelous brightness of the sun. When the prisoner returns to the cave, he tries to set the others free, but they threaten to kill him in response.
When people try to set their own path through life they’re inevitably going to encounter friction and societal opposition. While this can be bothersome, it must be overcome, for once a prisoner sees the sun, he can never go back to living in the dark cave.
The ability to establish your own principles and set the course of your life is one of the most definitive aspects of humanity. It is higher cognition, after all, that most saliently distinguishes us from animals. If you merely look around you, you will realize that the world is filled with opportunity and countless directions which you could take your life in. You have everything that you need to live an engaged and meaningful life. So, set sail and make it your life.
*Graphic by Sarie Jenkins
Kristian Fors is a student at Utah State University majoring in Economics and is an opinion columnist for the Utah Statesman. He enjoys studying psychology, traveling, and living life as intentionally as possible.
—krfors@gmail.com