What would life belike if we were able to change our viewpoint from one mind and body toanother?How would the world then beseen?
Can a personreally understand what it is like to stand in the shoes of another?We all live in this world from a singularperception, relying on our feelings to guide us on understanding other peopleand the interaction that they have with us.Some think that compassion is the closest thing to stepping into someoneelse's life.They ask, ?how would I feelif I were in the same position??Theyimagine and play out the circumstances in their heads to try and see throughthe eyes of another.
What is reallyhappening here when such things take place?
Imagine that Sallyis walking to the shops and she sees in front of her a beggar on the streetasking for money.She begins to think,?gee, I feel sorry for that guy who sits begging in his dirty old clothes, notable to help himself.?Then within herthoughts she thinks of how life would be like in such a circumstance.Some of the first things she might questionin herself are:
Where could sheget food?
How could she washherself?
Where could shesleep?
These questions,however, are not realized to be about how Sally feels, not truly how the beggarwould really feel within his own reasoning position.The compassion that Sally has is more basedon her own fears created within herself derived from what she considers not tobe the standard way of living life.Sally is not the beggar so therefore cannot reason a multitude of thingsthat are really important within his life.
Having compassionfor someone is one thing, but actually knowing how they truly feel isanother.Not one person is the same andutilizes their thoughts in the same way.When we think things inside ourselves we immediately assume that othersunderstand and think in the same lines, but it can be quite the opposite.Whilst one person might be thinking of thesituation of the beggar from a sympathetic point of view the next might beseeing him as weak and not willing to make a change in his life.Each is a totally separate viewpoint on thecreation within this world.Each personhas their own singular viewpoint that is unique and differing to all others.
How then would weassume that we can understand another when in totality we can never truly bethem in form.Here is another example ofhow this might be seen:
Sally is talkingwith her friend Kim.Kim has a story totell her about an experience she had with her boyfriend, that he did somethingto hurt her.Sally's compassionatenature feels sorry for her friend and she immediately thinks that her friendshould separate from her boyfriend in order to protect herself.Sally immediately assumes that she is feelingand communicating correctly with her friend Kim when she agrees to what she issaying.Then they part from each otherto go back to their separate lives.
What is then inKim's mind now?Is it exactly what herfriend Sally says that will influence her to make changes in her life?
Kim was sittingwith her friend Sally in the caf?.Theywere talking about her boyfriend and what he had done to her.She has so much love for her boyfriend thatshe understands why he has done it, because lately she has been neglecting hima lot with all the work she has been doing.However, she is angry inside and what her friend says to her she thinksabout, that maybe they are better off apart.But then as she is walking away she cannot bear the thought to livewithout him and wants to mend their differences and find more time forhim.She does not want to have theseparation.
When viewing backat these two paragraphs from the different viewpoints of Sally and Kim, isSally really understanding her friend and living within her shoes to give heradvice of how she should make changes in her life?
The obvious answeris no.
We cannot everwalk in the shoes of another, never feel how they feel.If we did then things would be so differentto what we could imagine because we would no longer have the mind from our oldbody but the mind of the new one that thinks so different and views life fromsuch a different perspective, with different past and experiences.
When you thinkthat you are relating to another and you give advice on how people should livetheir life, ask yourself, am I giving advice to what I would like or what theother person really needs?In turn tothis your life can not be lived by another, the way you view is from your ownperspective and determines how you wish to view the world around you.It is all a unique experience, one that cannot be lived by another.
So the answer is:No, we cannot live the life of another.