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OftenBen  ·  3392 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Do you guys ever wonder how others TRULY perceive the world?

If I were you and you were me, I don't think we'd be able to tell the difference.

I'm not expressing it well here but there is a concept in several religions, Buddhism most notably that we are all discrete portions of a unified whole. What makes that interesting in this context is the idea that if you were born, as a man, to one of those businessmen's families, and were presented with the same environment and influences that he was, you very likely would be in the same spot, projecting the same armor/externalities, feeling the same quiet desparation, intense joy and every other feeling that may be coursing through the person you're observing.

The golden rule makes much more than superficial sense when you realize the only thing really differentiating you from the person you're interacting with is the circumstances of your birth. (Which admittedly catalyzes every other possible differentiating or identifying experience.)