Where we start with an idea has more to do with how we perceive the world than many times where we end up. Many times what we think we believe is just a shadow of the real belief. I don’t know how to describe this except as a core belief which reaches out and affects every other active opinion we own.
What we believe about life is not so much a core belief as what we hold to be foundational about the universe. It isn’t just a belief but something of which we are so certain that even evidence to the contrary does little or nothing to shake our trust.
The jumping off point of any idea is the basis of it, whether or not our starting place actually has anything to do with the idea or not.
A person from a good family, with both mom and dad, siblings, extended family and friendships which go back to early childhood, perceives the world differently than one who barely knows any family at all–if at all. Having a place to belong assures the child first, then the adolescent and finally the adult that this is as it should be. In fact, we see the opposite extreme expressing the same opinion with a twist, “that is how it should be, but isn’t for me.”
Some blame themselves, others blame their parents, still others lay it at society’s or their culture’s feet. Yet their view of what is and isn’t true grows out of their trust or distrust in belonging. If a person as a child is abused, neglected, ignored and generally denied either basic necessities or just their desires, they learn to either distrust the world about them, see things as hopeless or become extremely ambitious to change their future. Many a driven person can trace this attitude back to these three things.
And so with logic. We cannot expect to hear the same “logic” out of everyone’s mouth that we expect out of our own. The way we see the universe (or just the neighborhood) is so different because our experiences are opposite ends of the spectrum. What seems natural or logical to one who has been well fed, cared for and generally valued will seem like a pipe dream to one who has had none of these things.
Both views are valid and logical within their set of parameters; both can be changed by just a twist of fate.
Our arrival point depends on, however, not so much our departure point but our decisions in between.
