Self-Generated Personal Mythologies

We subconsciously create and perpetuate our own mythologies by conveniently hiding the truth by imagining a world that seems magical but that contains just enough of a smidgen of reality to make it seem real. It's the filler between fantasy and reality.

An insight example is the following: we view our elders as almost godlike by their extraordinarily brilliant insights of life when in fact most of it comes from life experience. When I was a child it always amazed me that an elder could look at someone, ranging from my contemporary to a young adult, and perform what we could call 'profiling' which always turned out to be true. Such stunning insights may have branded them as a witch or warlock.

But you eventually learn that with more life experience comes wisdom which enables you to make far better decisions than in your youth. So when one says they're turning into their parents, this is one of the things that's occurring.

Similarly there are family secrets or sometimes historical gaps as to what occurred with a relative - nothing criminal or nefarious - rather unflattering. If we really loved or liked them we've created a positive image of their existence and often when you try to fill in some missing information you might demur in asking because you may not get a favorable answer which would sully the myth you've created in your mind.

And sometimes it's an unspoken collective agreement that there shall be no questions with respect to this information gap because, through wisdom, ignorance really is bliss and the truth is not worth knowing. It may be far easier never receiving an answer rather than making the Herculean effort of erecting a psychological wall of denial. Denial would be something that you must bury deep enough to forget yet sometimes the psychological stench seeps to the surface and leaves an indelible mark on your conscious.

Myths never need to be created as a perfect image. In fact it's best if you deliberately have flaws as a method of psychological containment as a bulwark from possible more disagreeable flaws making the entire myth more psychological - mythological figures like us except on an elevated scale.

As one gets older you realize that you're utilizing the cumulative life experiences to make better decisions, weather the storms better, make far fewer mistakes and have far fewer regrets. It's a question of efficiency rather than exploration because there's far less road ahead of you now than "back in the day" when you were an adventurous whipper-snapper. However when others view you as the "go to" person whose judgments are spot on, then you in fact feel and embody that mythical persona - flaws and all - someone who's evolved to a special level.

Copyright Indo-Brazilian Associates LLC 2016. All rights reserved.

Indo-Brazilian Associates LLC is a NYC-based global advisory service and think tank with connections at the highest levels specializing in international investment, political and security risk assessments. International business is increasingly complex featuring a highly mobile professional class in all corners of the globe. We provide you the tools to successfully negotiate cross-culturally in your global business endeavors. Tell us about your challenges. We'll get you on the "Short List".

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