163 Are you responsible for output and for input in your life?

Of course we govern our behavior, our output. We respond to stimuli, or spontaneously express what is within us. Whether behaviors are carefully deliberated acts or unconscious reflexive reactions, they are based upon our internal composition. To the extent of our capacity, we bear responsibility for our output. We cannot radiate what is not there.

Are we also responsible for our input? At first blush, we have no control and therefore no responsibility over received stimuli. They happen to us. Whoa! It is time to step back and examine the larger picture. Handling incoming information is not so completely passive. We have input filters and identity.

Consider yourself occupying an identifiable space. Consider your inputs to be signals that impinge on you in that space. Then ask yourself why you are in that space and what kind of receptor you are. For example, finding yourself in a boxing ring, you are responsible if you are struck in the face.

A conscript might disclaim all responsibility for being in a barracks without having chosen to be there. That circumstance does not remove the need and ability to filter and deal with the associated inputs. Accuracy of perception is paramount. Initially nothing is predetermined. Although it would be unsafe and unrealistic to perceive every other person in the facility as a kind, loving, nurturing family member, accurate assessment of the space leaves vast flexibility in what the subject individual finds there. Various inputs can be dodged or pursued. The subject person must actively surmount the negative, and build on the positive, inputs. Indeed, controlling perception of, and acting upon, input signals make the difference between leaving with a gang membership and leaving with a new professional skill.

Discussion: Can you apply this reasoning to overcome the proposition that your environment made you what you are?

16 July 2024