Locked in vs Free Outside "the Box"

     Most of us are aware of having certain self-concepts & worldviews, but by and large, nearly all of our attention is focused externally. What we see & think is, we (mistakenly) assume to be the objective truth. Most of us simply don't know that we don't know what's going on. And since we're certain that our take on things is accurate, we're equally sure that different perspectives are not only wrong, but that we should take action to fix the problem. Homer Simpson sums it up nicely "I don't like them - they're different." Welcome to fear-based egocentricity & all that it entails: rigidity, dogmatism, adversarial relationships, extremism, fundamentalism, totalitarianism, war, genocide, ... See: http://www.johnlovas.com/search?q=being+right and: http://mindfulnessforeveryone.blogspot.ca/2014/02/492-mindfulness-practice-real-world.html      
     Self-reflection - "a life examined" - is critically important to start evolving out of this primitive, tight, blind, egocentric box. As we evolve our consciousness, there is a natural shift from egocentric through hypo-egoic towards self-transcendence and allocentricity. See: http://www.johnlovas.com/2013/12/capacity-to-deal-realistically-with.html and http://www.johnlovas.com/2013/10/self-concepts-sense-of-momentum-or.html

     "In Indian mythology, Indra was a God who attached all phenomena with visible and invisible strands weaving together a universal net. Earth, trees, clouds, mountains, sky, passion, aggression, creativity, women, men, and children, all were connected in Indra's expansive net. At the intersections of these strands, Indra tied dulcimer bells. In that way, as one part of the net was pulled or moved, the bells would ring; when the sound of a bell was heard, awareness of interconnectedness arose becoming another strand of consideration in one's weave. When the bells were ignored, an illusion of separation and independence reigned; the outcome could be destructive, reverberating throughout the net.”
       W. Anne Bruce: "Abiding in Liminal Space(s): Inscribing Mindful Living/Dying With(In) End-of-Life Caring." PhD Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2002, p12