John C. Morgan
John C. Morgan on Everyday Ethics: Thankful for a simple piece of wisdom
John C. Morgan, Columnist
I'm thankful for what may seem a simple piece of wisdom it has taken me a long time and many struggles to understand: How you perceive what happens to you may outlast, even change, the experience itself.
I could have saved myself much grief had I grasped this wisdom earlier, but I suppose it takes a long time to reach this understanding.
I remember sitting in a room with a couple trying to help them resolve a family issue. The issue was the same for both, but each one perceived it quite differently. Each one blamed the other for the problem. Neither one listened to the other. Had I listened to each one separately I would not have believed they were describing the same experience. They could not solve their problem until they listened and shared the same understanding.
Or, consider the current experiences we have with the virus and how we combat it. Some believe wearing a mask is one way to protect themselves and others. They follow the guidance of most health experts. Others believe imposing masks to be worn is a limitation on their freedom. They follow some political advice. I suspect when a vaccine is made available, some will perceive it as a way to combat the virus; others may perceive it as another way for the state to impose its will on us.
Facts are facts. The earth revolves around the sun whether you perceive that happening or not. But your perception of that fact may shape your behavior. Remember the ancients perceived the sun revolving around the earth and that perception which we now know is wrong still colored their political and religious views. I often wonder how our views today will change in a hundred years. What might happen, for example, if we discover intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? How might that shape our understanding of our own uniqueness or the views we hold?
I keep very few books on my shelves these days. Not long ago I asked myself which ones I would read again and narrowed the remaining to a precious few, one of them being Viktor E. Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning. Frankl survived a Nazi concentration camp and one of his learnings was that people cannot control everything that happens to them, but they can control how they feel and do about what happens to them.
Frankl tells the story of a young woman in the camp who realized she had a few days to live. Her interpretation of this reality was quite different than we might imagine. She was grateful because she said in her former life she was spoiled, but now looking out the window she could see one branch of a chestnut tree and on the branch were two blossoms.
Frankl was startled when this young woman said the tree made her cheerful. She said she talked to the tree. When Frankl asked if the tree spoke to her, she responded: "It said to me 'I am here — I am here — I am life, eternal life.'"
John C. Morgan taught philosophy and ethics at the college level for many years. He now uses that experience to write essays and columns for others.
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