I have no trouble thinking outside the box, but I have no idea what’s inside it.
Could someone please tell me. What is inside that box?
20 thoughts on “In or Out”
Everything you think you want and everything you think you fear. Perhaps it is best to leave it unopened but be brave enough to stand upon?
Well put, Carole. I like the idea of standing upon it! Don’t just think outside it, stand on it!
Inside the box is all those ordinary, mundane, normal,usual,boring thoughts and ways to do things. Outside is definitely way better and fun.
rdl678- I worry that people think I’m missing some screws if I look at them blankly when they talk about stuff inside the box…
‘The box’ stirred up this recollection:
In the Army (I’m retired) the term is used at training locations to indicate the sometimes invisible line between training situations and real-life situations. After entering ‘the box,’ soldiers are permitted to say many things like: “…dead man in the road…”; “…five injured…”; “…request a MEDEVAC at…”; “…kill the machinegunner…”; etc. and not have to explain each time: ‘not-in-real-life, this is just pretend-training’.
Outside ‘the box’ the same words would elicit a different response, obviously.
The hitch: I was a criminal investigator. Our everyday work was no different from our war-time work (except for the trading suits-and-ties for helmets-and-tents part). If we got called to go into the box, it was because either someone died–really–or a serious crime occurred. Once we arrived, in suits and ties, we’d effectively “turn off” the box and training would end. ‘Pretend time is over boys and girls. Real life has reared it’s ugly head. No more capture the flag today.’
I know this isn’t what you meant when you posed your question, but it’s what came to the forefront of my mind when I read it.
Veach- Hey there. What an intense account of “the box”. I’m glad you added it. Your take adds to the idea. In the box is not real life and outside it is.
I think the inside of the box is empty. All thoughts are outside of the box. We imagine that the box is full of what we preceive other people think;)
There’s a box people talk about, but I don’t know it. I only know specific boxes. Not unlike the boxes in your photo. One like that I’d like to hand to you. A modest one, for I don’t know you well. I would hope that you would carefully untie the ribbon and set it aside, peel back the tape and gently pull the wrapping away, because some of it might just be beautiful enough to use again in some other way. And then… what’s inside? Something thoughtfully chosen, an expression of appreciation for all you give here, an expression of affection, maybe something needed… You’d have to open it to see. That’s the kind of box I like to think about.
I always think of Renee DeCarte, the famous philosopher who thought himself into a box.
It was cool. He used a line of logic to disprove his own existance, to disprove the existance of God, and then, once he found himself stuck in this philosophical box, he used logic to reprove the existance of God, and ended by proving his own existance with the O-So-Famous line:
“I Think, Therefore I Am.”
So basically, for Renee and I, “The Box” is any line of thinking that restricts a persons view of the world.
LOL There be a whole lotta boxes out there!
Take a trip to Walmart. Think of the Walmart building as the box. Inside lies your answer. Do you really want to enter?
GACK – no, Whirling Betty! 😉
This is fun.
moose- you’re a darlin’ and thank you for the gift. It’s just what I wanted, but was afraid to open for fear it might be for a friend of mine, Pandora.
Those boxes just have have some shoes- and you know what shoes are- mere dead leather to cover your live breathing skin…
shankari- what a great way to put it!! I like it.
To Glittering Muse:
Ahh, another fan of Plato!
I LOVE that comment….and I “GET IT” totally!
We just gotta learn how to work the box, and step out of the cave.
Brilliant!
Imagine what the world would be like if they taught this stuff in school.
Fact of the matter is, the inside of the box is filled with information that was neatly printed in bold letters with accompanying “pictures of contrast” on flash cards that were carelessly whirred in front of our impressionable baby eyes to show us everything they wanted us to know prior to us developing opinions and ideas of our own.
The inside of the box is filled with very talented people that were stifled in to believing that the regurgitation of facts and figures equals intelligence and creative porblem solving coupled with logical reasoning should be saved for those of genius power…something they do not posess.
Stay away from the inside of the box, as that is where genius dies and creativity is neatly packaged in to a celephane wrapper that they will tell you is everything you need to know to negotiate the roads of life.
Golly, I babble too much. Your turn. Pass the Scotch.
This is a tragedy. why would you spend time thinking about whats inside the box when you are clearly living outside of it. And everything is outside of the box so dont worry about whats in it, but whats around you.Im not trying to be rude or anything just trying to get a point out to you.Spend time doing things you love not worrying about whats in something or what to do next.
Inside and outside the box are mere perspectives. There is no in or out nor box, less we create it. The fundemental delusion of humanity is to suppose I am over here, and you are over there.
Everything you think you want and everything you think you fear. Perhaps it is best to leave it unopened but be brave enough to stand upon?
Well put, Carole. I like the idea of standing upon it! Don’t just think outside it, stand on it!
Inside the box is all those ordinary, mundane, normal,usual,boring thoughts and ways to do things. Outside is definitely way better and fun.
rdl678- I worry that people think I’m missing some screws if I look at them blankly when they talk about stuff inside the box…
‘The box’ stirred up this recollection:
In the Army (I’m retired) the term is used at training locations to indicate the sometimes invisible line between training situations and real-life situations. After entering ‘the box,’ soldiers are permitted to say many things like: “…dead man in the road…”; “…five injured…”; “…request a MEDEVAC at…”; “…kill the machinegunner…”; etc. and not have to explain each time: ‘not-in-real-life, this is just pretend-training’.
Outside ‘the box’ the same words would elicit a different response, obviously.
The hitch: I was a criminal investigator. Our everyday work was no different from our war-time work (except for the trading suits-and-ties for helmets-and-tents part). If we got called to go into the box, it was because either someone died–really–or a serious crime occurred. Once we arrived, in suits and ties, we’d effectively “turn off” the box and training would end. ‘Pretend time is over boys and girls. Real life has reared it’s ugly head. No more capture the flag today.’
I know this isn’t what you meant when you posed your question, but it’s what came to the forefront of my mind when I read it.
Veach- Hey there. What an intense account of “the box”. I’m glad you added it. Your take adds to the idea. In the box is not real life and outside it is.
I think the inside of the box is empty. All thoughts are outside of the box. We imagine that the box is full of what we preceive other people think;)
There’s a box people talk about, but I don’t know it. I only know specific boxes. Not unlike the boxes in your photo. One like that I’d like to hand to you. A modest one, for I don’t know you well. I would hope that you would carefully untie the ribbon and set it aside, peel back the tape and gently pull the wrapping away, because some of it might just be beautiful enough to use again in some other way. And then… what’s inside? Something thoughtfully chosen, an expression of appreciation for all you give here, an expression of affection, maybe something needed… You’d have to open it to see. That’s the kind of box I like to think about.
I always think of Renee DeCarte, the famous philosopher who thought himself into a box.
It was cool. He used a line of logic to disprove his own existance, to disprove the existance of God, and then, once he found himself stuck in this philosophical box, he used logic to reprove the existance of God, and ended by proving his own existance with the O-So-Famous line:
“I Think, Therefore I Am.”
So basically, for Renee and I, “The Box” is any line of thinking that restricts a persons view of the world.
LOL There be a whole lotta boxes out there!
Take a trip to Walmart. Think of the Walmart building as the box. Inside lies your answer. Do you really want to enter?
GACK – no, Whirling Betty! 😉
This is fun.
moose- you’re a darlin’ and thank you for the gift. It’s just what I wanted, but was afraid to open for fear it might be for a friend of mine, Pandora.
Kelly- Renée invented the box, and he knew how to work it. The rest of us just box ourselves in and look at the shadows on the wall as messages.
WB- Touché- (notice how much I like to show off my French accent?) I think I found it inside a box somewhere…not a Walmart box.
Those boxes just have have some shoes- and you know what shoes are- mere dead leather to cover your live breathing skin…
shankari- what a great way to put it!! I like it.
To Glittering Muse:
Ahh, another fan of Plato!
I LOVE that comment….and I “GET IT” totally!
We just gotta learn how to work the box, and step out of the cave.
Brilliant!
Imagine what the world would be like if they taught this stuff in school.
Fact of the matter is, the inside of the box is filled with information that was neatly printed in bold letters with accompanying “pictures of contrast” on flash cards that were carelessly whirred in front of our impressionable baby eyes to show us everything they wanted us to know prior to us developing opinions and ideas of our own.
The inside of the box is filled with very talented people that were stifled in to believing that the regurgitation of facts and figures equals intelligence and creative porblem solving coupled with logical reasoning should be saved for those of genius power…something they do not posess.
Stay away from the inside of the box, as that is where genius dies and creativity is neatly packaged in to a celephane wrapper that they will tell you is everything you need to know to negotiate the roads of life.
Golly, I babble too much. Your turn. Pass the Scotch.
This is a tragedy. why would you spend time thinking about whats inside the box when you are clearly living outside of it. And everything is outside of the box so dont worry about whats in it, but whats around you.Im not trying to be rude or anything just trying to get a point out to you.Spend time doing things you love not worrying about whats in something or what to do next.
Inside and outside the box are mere perspectives. There is no in or out nor box, less we create it. The fundemental delusion of humanity is to suppose I am over here, and you are over there.