Beliefs: The Other Man In Your Mind

That which we condemn in others, is that which we deeply fear the existence of in ourselves. Sitting here in the middle of the night I’ve been considering the theory that what most angers us in other people reveals the nature of our own insecurities, our fears of our deepest nature.
Personally, I know that I demand in others that they take responsibility for their actions. That they gain the necessary insight and awareness, identify the change required and then make that change. An excuse that their behaviour is learned has held little significance to me in the past, my response being that they must take responsibility.
As I consider this, I see that it is a quality that is often absent within myself. Noticing my own beliefs, actions (or more often inaction) lead me to realize how little control I have taken over them. How many beliefs have I truly chosen to have? It’s more likely that those beliefs about myself, the world and my place in it have been given to me without my consent.
Perhaps we are all handed a script during early childhood, more importantly we are handed a director. The authority within our own minds that demands that we do not deviate from the script, enforcing his or her own interpretation and threatening punishment for any mistakes.
Our experiences give us the opportunity to read other scripts, to perceive new choices. Yet without the consent of the director, the possibility of a new script is discarded. Perhaps that is why change can be so difficult.
We perceive the new options but the director, the Authoritarian Observer of our selves will not so readily change. The presentation of information to this part of psychological self is ineffective, it is stubborn and resistant to change. Maybe the most effective method to exercise true choice over our thoughts, feelings and actions is to begin a direct dialogue with the Psychological Director, exploring its own script and intentions.
In this way, instead of a long process of informational assault and frustration, change becomes a negotiation instead of an act of will.