Context Precedes Content

Context Precedes Content

Details help us derive meaning from life

Our Beloved Family:

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers of a wrod apaepr, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

This famous paragraph demonstrates one of the most important principles regarding how we perceive and ultimately experience things in life; context precedes content. The words above are only readable because of the context in which they appear; all the first and last letters of each word are in their proper place. Because the words are presented to us in this specific context, we can understand the message or content that it’s conveying to us. Now try this:

To decode our problems and decipher the hidden messages they have for us (which are crucial to finding solutions), we must place them within the proper context.

It’s almost impossible to successfully complete this exercise because of the context in which the words are presented; the colors of the letters contradict the colors of the words themselves.

In the same way, we misinterpret the true meaning of circumstances in our lives when we place them within the wrong context. We never get the real content or message of why we got sick, lost the job or divorced, usually because we’re blaming someone or something outside ourselves for our situation. That only leaves us confused and unable to interpret the meaning in what’s happening to us, so we continue to perpetuate the problem.

To decode our problems and decipher the hidden messages they have for us (which are crucial to finding solutions), we must place them within the proper context. Because we co-create our experience of reality through our consciousness, we must place every problem we have into a personal context if we are to understand what our challenges are trying to tell us about ourselves, and if we intend to grow and not go on unconsciously creating the same mistakes. Instead of lashing outwardly at someone else with blame, we must look inwardly as ask ourselves, “What does this situation have to say about me? How did I attract this person or circumstance into my life? Why is this happening to me again?”

When we’re brave and honest enough to place our problems within a personal context instead of a blaming one, we reorder the details in such a way that the messages they carry for us begin to become clear, and we can finally take corrective and healing action toward real solutions. This new context or order in which we place all these details must begin with us. We’re at the front of the line and top of the list because to very large degree, the quality of life each of us is experiencing right now is nothing but the sum total of every choice we’ve ever made right up to this very moment. The buck not only stops with you, it starts with you, as well. You are the beginning and end of a closed creative loop called your life, and the only way to consciously direct that process is to place it within a personal context, then the content of your experiences will lead you to the solution you’re seeking.