While we are all aware of these kinds of behaviors because we see them in others, most of us do not realize that we distort our own view of the world, largely because we think we see more than we actually do.

We are full of preconceptions about ourselves and are limited by them. The actuality of our being is not something we have an easy time making room for.

In order to see our son differently, Sandra and I had to be differently. Our new paradigm was created as we invested in the growth and development of our own character. Paradigms are inseparable from character. Being is seeing in the human dimension. And what we see is highly interrelated to what we are. We can’t go very far to change our seeing without simultaneously changing our being, and vice versa. Even in my apparently instantaneous paradigm-shifting experience that morning on the subway, my change of vision was a result of—and limited by—my basic character.

the propensity of humans to allow others to think for them

I understand the need to sleepwalk… to venture outside the lines can be tricky and difficult… But the complexity of the mind behind the larger system of knowledge is stunning and will break through any way it can…