The book placed a mirror in front of me, I saw not who I was, but how I had been living.

Etiology says “I caught a cold because I played in the rain, therefore I’ll never cure”, but Teleology say “I chose to play in the rain, so catching a cold is simply what followed.” It is not about which is correct.

All these are just symptoms. I once believed if I solved the symptom, I’d be happy. But you can’t cure a symptom without understanding what it represents.

A girl blushes when she is shy. If she takes medicine to stop blushing, she might look calm, but her heart remains the same. One day, when she wants to blush again, it will be no way to reverse anymore.

I used to say, I’m not well educated, so I must work harder than everyone else. It sounded noble, but deep down it whispered, I can’t succeed because I’m not good enough. That thought was never the truth. It was just another symptom.

There’s a story about the 🔎Gordian knot. Many tried to untie it and failed. Alexander looked at it once and cut it with his sword. The knot itself was only a symptom.

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All problems are interpersonal relationship problems. Argument arise (_^symptom) was result of superiority (_{^{trying to win, not to understand}}). The moment I tried to win, I had already lost the chance to connect. _{Deep down, we all want to be superior — or at least, not inferior. The moment we step into someone else’s boundary to prove that, problems appear.}

A good relationship is like reading a book. Too close and the words blur. Too far and the words fade. Somewhere in between, you finally see clearly.

When I looked deeper into relationships, I saw how much of life was built on the idea of being ^above or _below someone. Parent and child. Boss and employee. Teacher and student. We grow up inside this ladder, always looking ^up or _down. When you are at the _bottom, you crave approval. When you are at the ^top, you crave control. In the end, both sides are trapped chasing superiority.

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A problem that looks huge in a small world becomes tiny when you step back. I began to see how often I trapped myself in a tiny circle. When I zoomed out, my struggles looked lighter. Many of them were just my wish to feel superior or not inferior. Yet another symptom again.

The book taught me something beautiful. To have the courage to be normal. Not to be better, not to be special, just to be real. Normal is not weakness. It is acceptance.

Life was a straight line, moving forward toward some clear destination. If that was true, then my past would forever pull my future, and every choice would already be decided. That is the way of cause. (_^etiology)

But life, I realized, is made of dots. Each moment is a dot, a spark that exists only now. My task is not to follow a straight path but to create as many dots as I can.

If you only live for the end of the line, then reaching it means the story is over. But when you live for each dot, even a pause becomes meaningful.

Imagine standing on a stage. The light is so bright that you can’t see the first row of the audience, nor the back of the theater. You just keep performing. Some people live with dim light, always blaming the darkness around them. “Because of my family,” they say. “Because of my education.” But what if we simply turn the light brighter and see what happens?

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If I change, the world will change. No one else will change the world for me!

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So, what about you?
How did this book make you feel?
Share with me in the comments — I’d love to hear your reflection too. =)