Inside these padded walls, I can bounce my ideas around. The walls lob them gently back to me, creating a resonance of harmonious theory. Nothing crashes, nothing breaks inside the silk cocoon. Any dissonance is quickly blended in until it is unrecognizable. Occasionally, an especially sharp notion may poke through, exposing the padding and threatening to break my shell. Poke the stuffing back in quickly, frayed threads and knots and all. Sew up the hole, and all that remains of the uncomfortable idea is a scar where the walls were stitched up.
Each of us creates our own padded spaces, surrounded by people and ideas we are comfortable with. Within this space, we like to think of ourselves as diverse, open-minded folk. Yet the best measure of being diverse is when one's ideas are threatened.
If everyone you speak to agrees with you and slips seamlessly into your cocoon, you never even see diversity. If you aren't being challenged, you have no idea of where to expand, where your padded walls need to be mended. The measure of your growth is how your cocoon handles challenges that don't fit into it already.
2 comments:
You are so right. Often the “Yes” that we seek from others serves only as the hand that closes the gate to the garden of wisdom. Sometimes “No” is the most liberating word in our vocabulary because it forces others to properly assess their thoughts.
William, you phrased it so much more beautifully than I could! :) Though I think it applies just as much to ourselves: "No" is sometimes the most liberating word because it forces us to re-evaluate our thoughts as well.
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