Social Interaction

I am a very private individual, I rarely express my deepest thoughts with others. I am a quiet individual and verbal communication is not my best mode of communication. To many people I appear to have a boring and bland personality. But why do so many people form opinions based on outward appearances ? Why do they fail to recognize the individual that lies within ? The individual who covers himself in a veil of silence, perhaps to hide a vibrant mind within.

I am by no means saying that my mind is particularly 'vibrant', rather I am trying to make a more general point about people and how they analyze others around them. My mind is still young in experience and knowledge, therefore, I do not pretend to be particularly knowledgeable in this subject. What I can do is tell you about my experiences, and what they have taught me about others.

Nature's primary purpose is survival. This survival instinct is an integral part of every organism on this planet, it means every organism will strive for its own survival and nothing is above this. This survival instinct in a slightly tamed form is what we have come to call 'selfishness'. Selfishness is an inescapable tendency, it controls us even when we don't know it. I am selfish, you are selfish and every organism on the planet is selfish so don't take the word to be a personal insult, it is more like a universal insult, only an ideal being namely God is free from this insult.
Selfishness often remains invisible to us and we remain oblivious to its influence on us. It dictates our interaction with others and this is what I shall talk about. I will try to shine light on this tendency and try to break away its invisible cover so you may understand how it affects our understanding and behavior with others.
Let us examine the process of interaction. Lets imagine two people arguing. Person 1 ( P1) says something to Person 2 ( P2). Let us examine how P2 analyzes the comment from P1. First P2 hears the comment, the process of understanding the comment then begins in the brain. How does P2 understand the comment ? The comment is converted from sound to a pattern of electrical impulses in P2's brain. This pattern of impulses is compared with similar preexisting patterns in the brain and an opinion is formed based on P2's experiences, memories which are the building blocks of his personality. Therefore, P2's response will be in accordance with his personality which in turn has been built up from HIS experiences, HIS memories and HIS genes. A similar process will work in P1's brain, and because neither one is considering the other's perception of the matter, the arguement continues and this is a form of selfishness. A form built into our structural brains which do not allow us to experience another person's memmories and experiences and therefore, we are apparently cursed with a lack of empathy. Verbal language is incomplete in its capability to communicate because it cannot communicate a personality, a memmory, an experience, ultimately a point of view.

So how do we overcome this problem ? There is no perfect solution. All we can do is remember that our perception is not fact. I adopt this approach in my life and my interaction with people. I think we must be humble enough to admit that our view of reality is not law. We must be willing to empathize with others and recognize that everyone has a unique mind with a unique way of operating. What are the consequences of my philosophy ?
That is perhaps should be the subject of another post.