As far as rational perspective philosophy goes, there are not more than a few ideas than can be afforded to be termed as absolutely certain. Life itself is multidimensional and to take things for what they apparently seem to be is a strategy bound to leave your mind enclosed.

Such is also the case with inner peace or self-fulfillment.

To know one’s true potential and really attain that much sought after state of inner peace, we need to know ourselves. It’s not about the superficial knowledge that floats over the surface, like an empty boat tempting for the drowning swimmer to get on to and save life.  That’s the easy way out, the one that doesn’t promise fine attunement with oneself. Thus, there is limited reward, if any, at the end of that route waiting for you.

This means that there must be something else i.e., the road less travelled, which assuredly takes a person from the depths of confusion and ascends him to the heights of self-awareness. With that perspective in mind, there are quite a few ways by which one can attempt, and hope, to establish a robust connection with his own self:

• To go every now and then in solitude, trying to find answers to life’s puzzling questions by digging deep down and facing your core inner self.
• To go on an external exploration; to gather and absorb as much knowledge as you possibly can from the world and, in return, hope to find your core inner self.

The end goal remains the same. Whether you believe it or not, you are actually trying to bridge the gap between your present state of mind and that mental state which possesses sound knowledge of oneself.

You’re doing that in order to realize your true potential. Even if you don’t realize it, that’s what probably matters the most to a person, and that’s why your heart and mind will find itself gravitate towards this purpose one way or the other.

The Rational Perspective has now decided to present a juxtaposition of the two approaches and see if one is better than the other.

GOING WITHOUT

External exploration, or going without as I like to call it, is a process of setting out to discover what lies all around in the world. It is about realizing that your home is just a place for you to find food, shelter and some emotional affiliation but that’s about it. What really matters, according to this point of view, actually relates to the act of consciously expanding your knowledge.

With this mindset, you do everything with the intention of that i.e., expand your knowledge. You read new books, meet new people, talk about concepts that appear unique and interesting to you, you search for the things on the internet that intrigue you not because of pure entertainment value but due to the valuable knowledge they contain.

The fruits you eventually receive, by going without, are immensely beneficial for you personally. You elevate your personality, albeit gradually, to a totally different level. You start to develop a perspective on life that is fairly unique in its approach. When you gather a relatively greater amount of knowledge on a variety of facets of life, it blesses you with a power that really sets you apart. It gives you the kind of self-confidence that is simply unmatched by chasing any other thing.

Related: How To Get The Most Out Of Your Experiences

Now, according to TRP, it doesn’t just stop there. Acquiring knowledge about the world is only half of the equation. In fact, it amounts to nothing if you don’t make it a practical reality of your life. It implies that knowledge has to be followed by action in order to achieve real learning in whatever capacity it is possible for you to do so.

GOING WITHIN

Or in other words, diving deep into the complexity of your own self attempting to solve the riddle of life is the other end of the spectrum. It denotes going frequently into solitude to seek fulfillment. Some people would relate this to meditation, others would say they achieve that through yoga and other practices like these.

Although, these practices like meditation are more conscious efforts to dive within, they are limited by the restrictions of strict rules and methodologies. That, says the rational perspective, is opposite to what going within really is all about. It goes beyond to a place where you start questioning your existence.

In solitude, you attempt to find answers to the questions that drive your life design, the purpose of your life that keeps you going. It doesn’t necessarily relate to a Zen-like state of mind. The purpose could be chasing inner fulfillment but the means to achieve could be different for various kinds of people. Some would find it in doing something as simple as having a family, while others would go after altering the course of life for all mankind.

The process of making sense of this world by going within also entails looking yourself squarely in the eye and truthfully acknowledging all of your vices, ugliest realities and imperfections along with your positive side. If the perspective is not correct alignment then this mostly becomes the point that people start discounting.

This is a brief comparison of the two approaches. The main purpose is to convey the idea which, hopefully, has been done here successfully. This matter is of considerable importance because it provides solution to the problems that are the toughest to tackle, the life questions that are the toughest to answer. One could be extremely pragmatic in his approach but according to The Rational Perspective, these two approaches can be associated with introducing ease into your practical life.

It has been explained how a heightened level of self-awareness can be achieved through both the routes. Personally, I have found going within to be quite powerful in its ultimate impact, especially with regards to achieving fulfillment. Going without, I think, requires more effort and dedication for an extended period of time for its rewards to appear in terms of personal fulfillment but, is equally beneficial or possible even more.

The thought of rational perspective culminates here by declaring the process of going without to be only beneficial when it’s repeated consistently every day. To maximize and catalyze the journey to fulfillment though, going within has to be made a regular practice every week of two.

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