Week 1: Mobius Strip
This week the video Mobius Strip
talked about the two different sides to a person life. Parker J. Palmer discusses how everyone has
an onstage life or outer life and a backstage life or inner life. The onstage life being the physical and ego
part of one’s life. How they are seen or
thought about. The backstage life is
more about the internal thoughts and feelings of a person.
As Mr. Parker discusses each person
has an outer life. That life is based on
the ego types of questions. Some of
those questions are “Am I making a difference.”
People are also asking if he or she is looking good while doing
something. He or she is just worried if they
look good in general. Those questions
are what is being centered when making life decisions. The other side is inner life. This part talks about someone’s values or
instincts. Or put simply, his or her soul. As it showed in the video at one minute and
nine seconds, “we are born into wholeness and integrity without no separation
between our inner and outer life.” “As
time goes on we become concern with surviving and succeeding in the external
world, that we lose touch with our souls.”
Mr. Palmer continues that in stage two
children start realize that it is not safe to live his or her backstage life on
stage and if he or she did it will not be safe in this world. At this time children start to build up a
wall of separation between the two lives.
After awhile people start to
find it painful to live a life of disconnect between his or her inner and outer
life and try make a connection between the two.
This connection in turns develops a proverbial circle. While this is an improvement from the
disconnect it also builds another wall.
What Mr. Palmer means is that a person will not let anyone in that does
not think or see things the same way. The
introduction of the Mobius strip is interested because it the appearance of a
more fluid connection between the inner and outer life. As Mr. Palmer states at 4:34 of the video, it
is an appearance because the principle of the Mobius Strip is that there is no
inner or outer life, but in reality, they co-create reality with each other.
I will admit that this video was very
interesting to me. While this is my first
psychology class, I have had study psych in sections from other classes. I found myself realizing that I have gone
through these things in my life. I will
admit that I lived most of my twenties and the early part of my thirties making
decisions based on my onstage life. I have
always been self-conscience growing up so I was always worried about what I looked
like or what others thought of me. Even
though it seems easier to live side of your life, I feel it is not the
healthiest mentally or emotionally. I
have just recently started to focus more on my backstage life and try to live using
my values and morals in my decision making.
The
principle of the Mobius Strip makes so much sense to me. It still is a difficult process to follow all
the time. Mr. Palmer poses one question
that makes it difficult when he says, “How can I be aware of the co-creating
exchange that I can increasingly make choices that are life giving and not
death giving. I just hope by the end of
this class I can become more aware myself of these choices.
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