Yesterday while doing errands, with my mind was on mundane issues of the day, a word popped in from out of the blue.
EXTERIORISM.
“Hm…” I thought, “that’s interesting.” I had never heard it before, but it instantly had meaning to me. So I wrote it down on the first thing I could get my hands on, so as to remember it when I got home.
While I haven’t shared them on this blog, I’ve written on isms before, for they indicate a collective predilection toward a given mindset or form of behavior. In this case, exteriorism is the tendency to base our attitudes, views, and opinions, on exterior, or outer appearances, rather than look inside or for that which may not be so apparent. It’s a common habit, to be sure, but when practiced, we miss the opportunity to come to very different conclusions the situation we are in (and solutions to it), and even about our world and our purpose and place within it.
One of the most common ways that exteriorism is expressed, is through the unquestioned habit of simply believing that we are the bodies that everyone recognizes as “us.” We then think that our body, and all of its attributes, define our existence, and then base virtually all of our attitudes, beliefs, and actions around that concept. Yet, we will profess a belief in a God that we (think) we cannot see, but will sometimes vehemently assert that we have no connection to “Him.”Anyone who claims to have a connection with God, but does not present a “holier than thou” personna, becomes suspect.
It seems obvious that these things are so, that is, until we look beyond the obvious and find that it is not true. Upon embracing a different truth; that we are made of energetic, intelligent, spiritual “stuff” that expresses through, and even creates the physical form, life and existence starts to look very different.
Since we’re creating new language here, let’s refer to those who practice exteriorism as exteriorists. No negative or positive connotation is implied here. It’s simply a term to describe one who embodies, or is expressing a specific trait. No one is ever “always” one thing, and not something else that can even be its opposite. A “conservative” can have “liberal” leanings and vice versa. The woman or man who presents a devout, pious, religious countenance can have his or her wild side. All sides of who we are, are valid and serve a purpose. However, we often give more energy to maintaining a specific exterior by suppressing what’s really going on inside. We often do it for fear of judgment by others, or because others have judged us, or will judge us negatively if we give that “other” part expression. And so we become walking dichotomies, fragmented whole’s, with life, light, and love conditioned on, and restricted to specific “approved” areas.
If exteriorism is a fixation on the external and seen, then interiorism would focus on what’s happening inside, that’s unseen. The interiorist would see things differently than the exteriorist. Two different interiorists may indeed look at the same person and see different things. There’s nothing to say that what both sees, would not be true. This is not to negate the truth of the exteriorist vision either. If all one looks at is exterior factors and comes to a conclusion, then that “truth” will prevail, unless and until an inner truth is revealed.
What I’m saying is this: there’s more than one way to see a situation and discern the truth of it in the say way that there are many more aspects to who you and I are than meet the eye. To focus or rely only on the exterior, or seen, is like seeing an iceberg in the water and thinking it’s all there is. Not realizing that there is something behind that supports the iceberg, that gives it its weight and presence, can have grave consequences. And so it is with our journeys through the ocean of life. The surface presents just a small part of what’s really going on. Much more life can be found in realms unseen. It is encumbent for us to know that we have the ability to see, and feel that which is unseeable, but perceivable. We do it be looking within, practicing first on self, for in this world, we are our own best guide to what’s going on inside.
As we practice hearing what’s going on inside, respecting and loving who we are, we will be better able to recognize what’s going on inside others, in the Great Interior. This is not to suggest that we ignore the exterior, for it too is part of the whole. It is that we see the whole, and know that what we see and experience all begins within.
