A Greek philosopher had a disciple who was asked by his master to pay money for three years to every person who insulted him. When the period of testing was over the master said to him, ‘Now you can go to Athens and acquire knowledge.’ When the disciple entered Athens he found a wise man sitting at the gate who insulted every person coming and going. He insulted the disciple too and the disciple laughed out loud. The wise man asked him, ‘Why are you laughing when I am insulting you?’ The disciple replied, ‘Because I have been paying people for this kind of thing and you are giving it to me for free.’ ‘Enter the city’, said the wise man, ‘this city is yours.’
The ability to change one’s perspective is a very powerful and effective tool that helps us deal with everyday problems in life. The ability to look at things from a different perspective is very beneficial. By practising it, one can calm the mind with the help of certain experiences, certain tragedies. One must understand that everything and every event has different aspects. Everything is relative. For example, in my case, I lost my country. From that perspective it is very sad and there have been many more sad things. But if I look at this from a different perspective, I think that from the perspective of being a refugee, there is no need for any kind of formality, celebration or innovation. If the situation was the same, if everything was fine, then in many cases you just keep going; you pretend. But when you are faced with desperate situations, there is no time to pretend. From that perspective, that sad experience has been very beneficial for me. Being a refugee gives me the opportunity to meet many new people. I get to meet people from different religious traditions and different professions, whom I would never have met if I had stayed in my country. From that point of view, it has been very beneficial.
It seems that when problems arise, our perspective tends to narrow. We tend to focus on worrying about the problem and feel as if we are the only ones experiencing it. This can lead to self-absorption, which can make the problem worse. When this happens, I think it helps to look at things differently, such as thinking that there are many people who have faced the same problem and have had worse experiences. Changing your perspective in this way can be very beneficial when dealing with a specific illness or suffering. Trying to do this can help you develop positive thoughts in your life.
