The Power Of Context Gladwell Analysis

Finding The True Self

Throughout life people are always seeking something, whether it is finding out ideals, desires, lovers, and perhaps themselves. However, recognizing, fulfilling, and rising above one’s true self are the hardest things in the world because one always seems certain of him or herself and is strongly influenced by his or her surroundings. Hence, taking the time to practice experiences is a way for an individual to precisely know him or herself and actively participate in society. In the essay, “The Power of Context,” Malcolm Gladwell states that the features of one’s current social and physical environment will strongly influence his or her behaviors. Those actions that an individual conduct in response to the situation

he or she is in will define his or her true natures. On the same note, Tim O’Brien, author of “How to Tell a True War Story,” states that in a war environment, civilians and soldiers have different perspectives. It is hard for soldiers to tell a true war story because the truth is not just a simple matter of seeing things as black or white. However, Robert Thurman, author of “Wisdom,” states that humans are stuck in the place where they believe they are always the center of the universe. He argues that instead of having an “I am who I am” attitude, an individual should try to find the purpose of selflessness to become the one who has empathy for others in order to live an enlightened life. Both Gladwell and O’Brien touch on environmental factors that influence human behaviors specifically the way one thinks and acts. While humans are struggling to reconcile their behaviors and thinking in response to their current situations, Thurman’s idea of achieving selflessness offers a solution. ---(mediation)
Realizing selflessness to have a sense of universal compassion and sameness liberates an individual from pseudo-self and being locked away. Pseudo-self, an artificially self-constructed identity, restricts an individual to connect with his or her surrounding. An individual’s inner world and demand will be constantly modified, shaped, and molded by his or her immediate circumstances. Therefore, the inner state of understanding self does not exist in isolation. Instead, this process has to be built based on one’s surrounding and fitted in with the needs of the general society.

Otherwise, the self-construction that one built in certain situations for him or herself will be a misjudgment of one’s true self, which will even bring negative effects in society. O’Brien and Gladwell illustrate this idea, and they both suggest that in a chaotic environment, individuals tend to be more ruthless because they have to vent their feelings, which does not reflect their true selves. O’Brien gives an example of Rat, who lost his comrade in the war. Rat’s reaction to that situation was to torture a baby buffalo as he “ shot it twice in the flanks. It wasn’t to kill; it was to hurt” (321). In the situation of losing the best comrade, Rat constructed himself as a killer who tortured a baby buffalo because he was afflicted with sad, despondent, and resentful feelings. The way he killed the buffalo was cruel just as the war killed his comrade. And thus Rat was the pseudo-self in this situation because his ruthless act led to the death of a living creature. To further explain this idea, Gladwell suggests that in a chaotic situation, one becomes ruthless to have a sense of control over that situation, and this kind of feeling

is driven by the environment rather than actual intentions. This idea can be illustrated in the example of Goetz who shot four criminal men in the subway. While being mugged, Goetz “ reached into his pocket and pulled out a chrome-plated, five-shot Smith and Wesson .38, firing at each of the four youths in turn” (Gladwell 149). Goetz did not feel safe in that situation, so the way he reacted was to defend himself by shooting the four men. He conducted himself as a hero who punished criminals for doing the wrong thing. At the moment of pulling the trigger, Goetz did have the sense of control over his situation because the death of four men provided him a sense of security. At the same time, killing human beings was no longer aligned with his true self because the chaotic environment forced him to do so and he had to strike back. However, Thurman argues that this kind of problem appears because people are ego-centered; they do not have compassion for people around them. He suggests that one way to avoid this problem is to discover selflessness as “through the sense of sameness, you feel their pains as if they were your own: when they hurt, you hurt…you naturally feel moved to free them from their pains, just as you move automatically to eliminate your own pains ” (Thurman 454). By focusing more on the feelings of others and worry less about oneself, the world one naturally feels less pain. Through sameness, individuals are inclined to assist others to overcome any form of pain that they feel. Sameness emphasizes having compassion with other people as opposed to solving a problem just by killing someone and not seeing them as a person. Rat and Goetz are both ego-centered without considering the points of view of other people or living creatures. Rat did not think about the pain this would cause to the buffalo, and Goetz did not consider the repercussion of shooting the four people. Their pseudo-selves were served as a defense mechanism that disconnected them from their surroundings. As a result, once an individual becomes the one who has compassion for others, he or she can get rid of pseudo-self and be more connected with the world around.
One needs to focus on reality and not on distractions in order to discover a true self. Understanding reality is a way to achieve knowledge, to discover the true self. It is equivalent to realizing the limitation or absence of existing knowledge because realization is what gives people advantages. For example, not totally knowing true selves can open individual’s mind because it helps them to better know themselves. Individuals always have “knowledge” that they know exactly who they are, and understand things that go about them pretty well. Thinking in that way helps people better regain control over their lives because it gives them a sense of safety. However, in reality, the real knowledge is one’s awareness that he or she is not perfect. By recognizing one’s limitation of his or her existing knowledge and the surrounding, one can discover the true self. Thurman illustrates the idea that pretending to know answers is what makes one vulnerable as “when we pretend, we focus our attention on appearing to be right no matter what the reality, we distract ourselves from being awake to what really is going on, and so place ourselves at a disempowering disadvantage” (446). When people do not have knowledge about something, they become weak and vulnerable. However, people do not want to appear that way. It is within human nature. Therefore, people pretend to have knowledge. And once they pretend, they are actually putting themselves in a disadvantage because they do not know what the right answer is. Pretending is a guise to a lack of knowledge. If one has the “knowledge” then he or she does not need to pretend or fall into distraction. O’Brien helps enhance this argument by acknowledging what one’s limitations are advantages for him or her. He states that war is like finding an answer that ultimately does not have a right or wrong answer as “in war you lose your sense of the definite, hence your sense of truth itself, and therefore it’s safe to say that in a true war story nothing is ever absolutely true” (323). Soldiers attempt to find the right answer, but they are trapped because there is no right answer. The war blinds soldiers just like how people try to pretend to know themselves. It causes them to lose the truth.