I've been reading this book, "The Code of the Extraordinary Mind" by Vishen Lakhiani, these past few days. It's a not a motivational book but a disrupting book questioning the standards that were passed from our ancestors down to us.
In this book, depicts two types of truth we believe in; the absolute truth and the relative truth. Absolute truth is a fact that every one of us believes in. It can be that the sky is blue, rocks are hard, water is wet, fire is hot and the list goes on. On the other hand, there is the relative truth or what was coined in the book as the "culturescape." This is the mental world of ideas, constructs, concepts, models, myths, patterns, and rules that were developed and was passed down from generation to generation -- sometimes for thousand years.
Culturescape is where the concepts such as marriage, money, religion, and the laws reside. These are all relative truth for these ideas are only true for a particular culture or tribe.
Now, let us move to the BRULES, another term coined in the book. These are the bullshit rules that we adopt to simplify our understanding of the world. These rules are handed down by our tribes -- often our family, culture, and educational system. Do you guys still remember the time you have chosen your own religion? Or how you got your ideas about love, money, or how the life works? Most of us really don't. Most of our formative ideas about how to live come through others. And these ideas are tightly bound to ideas of what is good and bad, right and wrong.
Now, I've listed here some of the brules that I believe is no longer applicable in our daily lives.
Religion. Basically tells us what is right and wrong, who will be saved and who will be not. Let me make myself clear. I am not an atheist nor does not believe in God. There's a difference between being spiritual and being religious. I respect all religions and I believe that all religions have their pros and cons. We can basically live a life without limiting ourselves with one religion. If there's only one RIGHT religion, does that mean that all other religions will not be saved? I guess not. So religion is basically inherited and was passed down from generations to generations. We can be spiritual without being trapped in a religion that limits us to what is right and what is wrong.
Marriage. Most of the time, we are told to marry the person of the same race, religion, and belief. Why can't we accept people from another culture? Love is universal and is not limited to a certain group of people. Love is boundless, and shouldn't be self-limiting.
Study hard, get good grades is such a limiting cycle. We are told to study hard and get good grades. Hit those As and be hired in a big company. Success cannot be measured in getting good grades, yet we keep pushing our kids to study something they do not enjoy. Why can't we let them enjoy and have a passion for other things? Like music, sports, or study something else that they like. I'm not saying that we should not put our kids in school, but they shouldn't be limited to that.
Work in a big corporation. Most of us trapped in what other people told us. WORK IN A BIG CORPORATION. It's actually nice to hear that you're working for Apple, Google, or Facebook; but is that what you dreamed of? Is that what makes you happy? Are you living your passion working for these big companies? If your answer is YES, then that's very good for you. But if it's a NO, too bad. Getting paid with high salary and to work in a big company sounds very good to the ears. But living the life aligned to your passion is way lot better than this. This is where the work becomes play.
Nations and races. Why can't we unite as one? Why do we keep looking at other's differences? See who's right or wrong? Why do we need to create imaginary borders and call it nations? Let us love each other and be as one. We all came from one race, and that's Human Race.
I do not encourage anyone to change his or her belief but if you know any brules, can you please post it below? Let us know about those so we can also identify them and live our lives the extraordinary way, being limitless and be able to choose the life we want to have.
Note: Please avoid argumentss about other people's ideas. It's alright to give feedback but not to the point of arguments and discrimination.
Want to read the book? Visit http://www.thecodexmind.com
I hope to hear some feedback from you guys. Cheers!