Do you want a shiny golden car?

 

Where Do Our Choices Come From?

Here are two cars.

One is a beautiful, shiny, golden new car. The other is an old, worn-out car that looks as though it may need many repairs.

If you had to choose between the two, which one would you choose?

Of course, different people may make different choices. However, most people would probably be attracted to the beautiful new car first.

A new car is less likely to break down, may last longer, and usually has greater value. An old and damaged car, on the other hand, may require frequent repairs, cost more money to maintain, and have little resale value.

For these reasons, many of us would naturally choose the shiny new car.

But not everyone would make the same choice.

Someone with plenty of money might not care about either car. Another person might appreciate the artistic or classic character of the older vehicle and choose it because of its unique appearance.

So why do people make different choices?

This brings us to an interesting question.

Why do I want the better car?
Why do I prefer the shiny golden car?
Why do I want something new?
Why do I dislike something old and damaged?

We often make these choices so naturally that we rarely stop to think about where they come from.

Yet within our minds, we already have many standards by which we judge things.

We may have learned:

New is better.

Broken things are undesirable.

Expensive things may have greater value.

Clean things are preferable.

Buying something good at a reasonable price is a wise decision.

These standards were not necessarily created at the moment we saw the two cars.

They may have been forming within us for many years through what we have seen, heard, learned, and experienced.

Then, when we encounter a new situation, we use those existing standards to judge what is good or bad, desirable or undesirable.

In this sense, some of our choices can seem almost automatic.

Think about what happens when we go shopping.

If we were given a choice between food that someone had already eaten from and a clean, unopened product, most of us would choose the new product immediately.

We probably would not need to think very long.

Why?

Because a standard has already been established within our minds:

“I don’t want something someone else has already eaten.”

“I want something new and clean.”

We are not creating that standard for the first time at the store. We are simply using a judgment that already exists within us.

The same process may happen in many other areas of our lives.

When we meet people, buy things, choose food, or decide whether we like or dislike a situation, we continuously use the standards stored within our minds.

So perhaps we can begin observing our own thoughts and asking:

Why do I like this?
Why do I dislike that?
Why am I choosing this?
When and how was this standard created within me?

When we look carefully at our choices, we may discover that many decisions we consider completely natural are influenced by thoughts, experiences, and standards that were formed long before the present moment.

Have you ever noticed this within yourself?

Have you ever realized that the choices you make today may begin with standards and judgments that were already formed within your mind long ago?