Choosing A Map For Life By M. Scott Peck

I believe that our actions and thoughts can and can not influence our future. We also can shape the things that happen to us and we are responsible for our own actions. In the biography, “Without A Map” by Meredith Hall, it tells a story about a young girl who grew up bonded to her insular New Hampshire community and comforted by the hallmarks of belonging. She had perfect attendance in Sunday school, classmates who seemed more like cousins, teachers who held her up as a model student, and a mother who loved her unconditionally. Then at sixteen, she became pregnant, and all at once those who had held her close and kept her safe turned their backs on her. The same day that Meredith was expelled from school, her mother told her “You can’t stay

Since the beginning of time, the environment in which one is accustomed to provides them with the choices that lead down paths that make their legacy. This environment can be negative or positive, structured or chaotic, rich or poor, all which give a variety of choices. Regardless of the different trials and tribulations we face ultimately, it is the choices we make in response that make us the person we become.

	Living is about making choices. The choices people make shape their lives for better or worse. Even the decision not to choose has its effects, often not wanted. But the individual who chooses to make positive choices and to act accordingly is more likely to see his or her life reflect his or her beliefs and desires. Usually the individual who chooses to take action is also willing to face the risks and obstacles that such choices involve.

Have you ever questioned the nature of your reality? Questioned if you are completely able to see from the outside looking in? Philosopher Plato, presents his view of reality through an allegory to explain the concept, and how we gain knowledge of our reality. Two other philosophers that I will mention both touch base with their description of reality and how it relates to Plato’s conception. All three of these philosophers believe knowledge is attainable through acts of realization and simple knowledge, and each philosopher presents his/her main point of reality through different ways of attaining it. I will further mention the relevance of Plato’s theory in today’s world and why I believe it to be valuable.

People seem to think that everything that happens to them everyday is real. The question is, though, “What is real?”. Is everything you see everyday really real or is it fake? We might see fantasies that other people or machines have created for us. Maybe we are the ones that are not enlightened yet. Numerous essays and films have been produced on this subject. One essay is “The Allegory of the Cave” written by Plato in 360 B.C. Also, the movie The Matrix was filmed in 1999. Even though many differences can be drawn between “The Allegory of the Cave” and The Matrix, there are many similarities as well.

In order to live a full and satisfying life one mustn't be afraid to do some critical thinking about one's life, i.e. where it started, where it is, and where it's headed.

“For a lot of people, life is a series of day by day decisions, living each day trying to do the best we can, and where we end up in life is not always where we would have predicted when we were

life: seeing the world in relationship to oneself alone, versus viewing the world as an aggregate.

In the contemporary society, there are an increasing number of people paying great attention to child’s behavior. At the same time, a hot debate has also appeared, revolving around this topic. Some people believe that child’s behavior is a reflection of their home life. However, in the story “Burn Yours Maps”, was written by Robyn Joy Leff, he totally disagrees with this point. In his story, the protagonist, Wes wants to be a Mongolian and imagines his life as a nomad Mongolian. This idea from him doesn’t come from his family, neither from his mother nor father. None is Mongolian in Wes’s family, even his grandpa Firth was telling stories to Wes, but he never referred to Mongolian. It is clearly to see that Wes, himself wants to be a Mongolian without any reflection of his family. Leff uses two points of view and an emotional writing technique to support his arguments. The most important point is that the conflict between three main characters through the whole story. Wes’s father, Connor wants to prevent him to be a Mongolian and his mother, Allies kind of understands her son and tying to persuade Conner and protect Wes in her own way at the same time. Leff also uses conversation between Conner and Allies to express that Wes’s behavior is not reflection form them. In the end, Leff uses his unique emotion writhing technique to show that even Wes’s parents are not support him to be a Mongolian, he still insists his own idea to be what kind of person that he wants

This book, by Spencer Johnson, reveals the truths about how we deal with change that happens in our lives which effects us in so many ways, either positively or negatively. The book takes an amusing approach to what happens when you don’t adapt to change and what happens when you do. In the book, cheese is used as a metaphor for what you want to have in life. All my life I wanted the nice house, the beautiful wife, the kids, money, the dog, the nice tuck to pull the nice boat, the great career, and so on , and so on. To me, it’s human nature to want those things and I eventually got all of those things and then some….. More on that later. There was another metaphor in the book, which was the maze.

What we think is reality will ultimately become our reality if we believe certain things about an individual; he/she begins acting in exactly that way.

The way the world is seen varies with each passing person. What is observed as good from one may be the damning pathway to hell for another. Many times these beliefs are instilled upon us at a very early age which can result with a twisted outlook on life that we had little to no control over. As we grow older we are than further influenced through our religion (or lack of), culture, and passed experiences. With that in mind, it is easy to see that reality can be just as interchangeable and further raises the difficult question of what is real? Robert Neville, a man who on a daily basis struggles with the reality of being the last man on earth often only manages to keep going by holding on to the intangibles of hope, denial, and

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away.” -Philip K. Dick

The first point of view from chapter one is by a man by the name of M. Scott Peck. In the section that he wrote he compares our lives to that of a map. He states that these maps need to be revised as we live our lives instead of following a map that may be incorrect. He goes on to explain that to revise a map people will have to face reality about one’s life experiences and it might be painful to face these experiences but it is necessary to achieve the truth. It is easier for people to hide their so called “maps” from the world than to put them out there to be challenged and seen by others.

Emphasis, these days, seems to fall too heavily on humanity’s need to push, to dream, to work to achieve a lasting happiness. People seem to forget that everything they’ve ever been, known, and have yet to experience moves. People seem to forget that life is change.