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Mental constructs, social norms, and conventions have made people slaves to a certain system, creating a barrier that may be preventing them from exploring new and potentially better things. Such constructs predispose them to certain assumptions or belief systems that influence their relationship to reality. Because they serve as “protection” to risks associated with life, these belief systems often restrict people from becoming productive citizens of the world.
Seattle, Washington-based business expert Emile Haddad writes that “when we are externally focused, we become unable to be present to what is alive in front of us in the moment; instead we are more likely to be responding to projections of our assumptions and mental constructs.” He compares such a set-up to impaired senses, where people only sort and filter for the familiar things that they want to hear or see. “In a way we are not quite connected to our center, nor are we connected to the environment around us; we are sitting at the edge of ourselves.”
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When projection is placed too far from reality, the thrill of life is diminished to its minimum. In business, for example, leaders and professionals in general are forced to comply with pre-determined tools, analytic criteria, forms, and processes. While these make thing organized, they also leave employees ungrounded and act in a less organic way. They may experience being directed to do the work, but not genuinely guided to display their best self.
“[Mental constructs] obscure us from the core experiences of reality, a reality in which each other’s humanity can be touched and attended to; an authentic experience in which our human frailties and vulnerabilities are accepted and attended to rather than avoided,” adds Mr. Haddad. Vulnerabilities serve as the epicenter of the human condition; acknowledging their existence can open doors to a myriad of possibilities.
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