May 25th
Occhiolism — “the awareness of the smallness of your perspective, by which you couldn’t possibly draw any meaningful conclusions at all, about the world or the past or the complexities of culture, because although your life is an epic and unrepeatable anecdote, it still only has a sample size of one, and may end up being the control for a much wilder experiment happening in the next room.”
Interesting quote and a definition of something made up and obscure. Well, the feeling of the smallness of one perspective is not made up but obscure enough, only that word Occhiolism was made up by somebody. But it really doesn’t matter now.
My perspective is small and narrow, no matter what I tell myself otherwise. Because I like to tell myself that I can see things from many different perspectives, that I lived through plenty and experienced enough and learned so much to be able to see issues from diverse points of view. And that is pure bullshit. I cannot, you cannot, no one can. We are defined only by our experiences, every life is unique and particular. No matter how hard I try, I will always see and analyze every single topic from my moral and ethical standpoint, with precise examination as to how it might benefit me or might cause me problems.
I cannot make valid conclusions about things that happen in the world, I can only decide if I like them or not and how they will affect me. I do still get angry about them, mostly about the fact that others (those who make decisions and rules) don’t see things from my perspective. And obviously, they cannot. The same with other cultures — and I don’t mean other nations, other races or religions or genders — I cannot even wholly understand the cultural values of a neighbor across the street.
And who, besides me, can understand me? Hell, I am still learning to truly understand myself.
