Walking with one foot in two paths.

A human life is divided into two paths - The path of social interaction and the path of self-reflection. 

The path of Social interaction leads one into contact with other people and allows one to function within the broader society that surrounds us. The path of self-reflection leads one away from society, allowing one to spend time alone, introspecting and reflecting upon one's personality, and developing accordingly. 

One must walk with one foot on two paths for if you choose to walk fully in one you will end up lonely of purposeless.

If one walks fully and solely down the path of social interaction then one’s existence will be defined by how one is perceived by others. Although this path can provide entertainment and company, it also leads to a purposeless existence as one derives purpose from the acceptance of others and not oneself. If you look at a person that finds all their fulfilment through their acceptance by the society around them, you will notice how they require company and often live a life without purpose.

Conversely the path of self-reflection leads one to discover their true being and to develop accordingly. This provides one with purpose to existence, however, this path also leads one away from society and the path of social interaction. If one continues solely and fully down this path one will eventually be cast out of society. You will often see people that have spent too much time alone and introspectively seeking purpose at the expense of social interaction - They are often unable to function in society and forgotten. Being cast out by society and is cold and lonely as we are social beings... Society us like an open fire – it warms you from the cold. 

To be happy one must function within society and also have a purpose to one'e life. To live a purposeful existence one must spend time alone, reflecting on their purpose. To live a social life one must be a social being, interacting with others around them. Walking fully in either path will lead to unhappiness as both a purposeful existence and social acceptance are necessary for happiness - The happy person will walk with one foot in both paths - living socially and with purpose. 

Interested People Make Interesting People

A person should be both interested and interesting  – however one need only be interested because ‘interested people make interesting people’. If one is interested then they will naturally become interesting because their interest will lead to questions, experience and learning – and thus more knowledge, and the more one knows then the naturally more interesting one becomes. If one is interested then one learns from the experiences of others. This allows one to be empathetic or compassionate which in turn leads to kindness and generosity.

Empathy is listening to another’s experience and understanding and relating to that experience through ones own experience. It is the basis of all friendship and conversation. A conversation involves people communicating about their own experience, whilst relating to the experiences shared through their own understanding and experience. A friendship is a good mutual understanding of shared experience – this allows two people to relate. As empathy is learnt through listening to other people’s stories then this allows empathy and thus kindness and generosity, which are necessary for friendship.

The relating of experience allows people to communicate freely – both verbally and non-verbally. The more one understands another, the more one will communicate. The innate understanding that defines friendship enables this communication to be silent. One could say that ‘it is not the sharing of conversation that defines a friendship but the sharing of silences’. It is within these silences that friends understand their shared experience and reflect upon it in an introverted way. Thus to develop friendships one must be interested and interesting. Being interested will lead to one being interesting. It will also lead on to the development of empathy and compassion and thus generosity and kindness.