Travel increases our self-knowledge and objectivity
“Understanding other peoples is important also because such understanding increases our self-knowledge and objectivity. We grow up with the assumption that our own way of doing things is the right way, if not the only way. Yet we are aware of many problems for which we do not know the solutions. A knowledge of the variety of ways in which others peoples have met similar problems gives us new perspectives and new clues to human behavior. ‘He knows not England who only England knows’ applies equally to any society.”
–Ina Corinne Brown, Understanding Other Cultures (1963)
September 7th, 2009 at 11:17 am
Great quote. It’s true that getting to know and understand people can be a great benefit to us and society. Take a step back and look and listen for solutions that you may not have recognized before in your daily life. When you get caught up in doing it your way, you lose sight of the fact that others may have the solution your looking for. When you travel, it’s a good idea to listen intently to those around you for the may have knowledge that can be very valuable if you apply it to your daily life.
September 7th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
Traveling solo increases your self-knowledge even more so,
September 9th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
“like a fish in water!”
September 13th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Yes, I agree, this is such an important awareness. Here’s a related take: “I may be your spouse, your parent, your offspring, your friend, or your colleague [i.e., your fellow traveler]. If you will allow me any of my own wants, or emotions, or beliefs, or actions, then you open yourself, so that some day these ways of mine might not seem so wrong, and might finally appear to you as right–for me. To put up with me is the first step to understanding me. Not that you embrace my ways as right for you, but that you are no longer irritated or disappointed with me for my seeming waywardness. And in understanding me you might come to prize my differences from you, and far from seeking to change me, preserve and even nurture those differences.” –David Keirsey, Marylyn Bates, “Please Understand Me” (1984).