When faced with a BIG LIFE CHOICE where on one side life is as we know it and the other side is a TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCE; we are not able to picture what life would be like on that other side. Our minds are inclined to misinform us. When you find yourself facing a decision involving a NEW EXPERIENCE that is unlike any other EXPERIENCE you have had before, you can not make the decision rationally.

As we live our lives, we find ourselves confronted with the bare fact about how little we can know about our futures. For many of BIG LIFE CHOICES, we only learn what we need to know after we have done it, and we change ourselves in the process of doing it. THE BEST RESPONSE TO A BIG LIFE CHOICE IS TO CHOOSE BASED ON WHETHER WE WANT TO DISCOVER WHO WE WILL BECOME.

As Daniel Gilbert has stated, “HUMAN BEINGS ARE WORKS IN PROGRESS THAT MISTAKENLY THINK THEY ARE FINISHED.” What one knows about themselves at one time may be inaccessible to you for a future time. This is the relationship between knowledge and experience.

When faced with the most TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCES, we are ill-equipped to even begin to imagine the nature and magnitude of the TRANSFORMATION; but we must challenge ourselves to go beyond this basic failure of the imagination if we are to realize THE REWARDS OF ANY TRANSFORMATIVE EXPERIENCE.

IN MAKING THE BIG LIFE CHOICES WE MUST NOT FEAR THE POTENTIAL LOSS, BUT RATHER WE MUST BE HAPPY OVER THE POTENTIAL GAIN OF JOY AND SATISFACTION WE FAIL TO ENVISION BECAUSE WE HAVEN’T YET EXPERIENCED THE CHOICE.

THE EXPERIENCE OF LIFE CHOICES TEACHES US THINGS WE CANNOT KNOW FROM ANY OTHER SOURCE BUT THE EXPERIENCE ITSELF.

Categories: PERSPECTIVES Philosophical Perspective

ron winnegrad

Ron Winnegrad has been a Perfumer and teacher for 46 years. As a perfumer, Ron has been able to express the world he sees through a rainbow of olfactive and emotive visions. As a teacher, Ron has helped others to see fragrance through his own multi sensorial lens.