Beyond Good and Bad

Beyond Good and Bad
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes

Experience is utility. Utility is the value of a thing to be used for certain ends - basically its usefulness. For example a set of tools are 'utilized' to perform certain mechanical tasks. Experience in and of itself has utility. What I mean by this is that every experience serves as a tool for use to expand our possibilities.

Often, we filter our experiences through a lens that tags circumstances and situations with a 'bad' label or 'good' label. This way of thinking is ancient. Ancient in the sense that it is obsolete and dangerous. To truly make utility out of experience we must create new filters through which we can 'see' reality through a pragmatic lens.

We can see value and utility in all experiences by asking questions that guide our awareness and focus. For example, instead of presupposing a situation is good or bad, you can ask "how is this situation useful.' Also, we can ask 'what opportunities does this situation present?'

By stopping yourself short of analyzing a situation as good or bad, it gives you a chance to apply a new filter and gradually acquire a habit that will increase your quality of life.

- Angel Armendariz