Ampersand Answers: The Whole Picture

"... people see better what looks like them."

The Overstory, a 2019 Pulitzer Prize winner by Richard Powers,
Excerpted from a newsletter by marketing wizard Shawn Twing 

The Question: 

How can I better see the whole picture ?  

&mpersand Answers: 

This is the danger of a curated reality stated in one scary sentence. This is, actually, why a curated reality is a terrible idea. 

The reason is because a reality without friction utterly collapses the function of Free Will. I kid you not. 

It’s a little simplistic, but the human immune system works best on the principle of challenge, or friction. You encounter, say, a flu germ, and your system, naturally recognizing it as unwelcome, adapts to fight it off. No germs, no immunity. 

So, when your reality feels curated, there’s an easy solution: look around. Find something that doesn’t fit in the curated picture. Get curious about that. 

The other thing about “what looks like them,” is that we think we know what we’re seeing, because it looks like us. That’s no way to live. 

We’re here to live, heal, learn, grow, thrive. The way we do that best, and fastest, is seeing what doesn’t look like us, and bringing curiosity to it. 

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