"ما جهان را نه آن‌گونه که هست، بلکه آن‌گونه که خود هستیم یا آن‌گونه که شرطی شده‌ایم ببینیم."

The idea here is that our perception of the world isn't objective; it's shaped by who we are and how we've been brought up. What's happening around us gets filtered through our personal experiences, beliefs, and biases. Think of it like wearing glasses with colored lenses—everything we see is tinted by that color, whether we realize it or not.

This concept has roots in a lot of philosophical and psychological thought. For example, the ancient Greeks, like the philosopher Plato, talked about perception and reality in his Allegory of the Cave. More recently, 20th-century psychologist Carl Jung emphasized how our personal unconscious and experiences shape our worldview. It’s a timeless idea because it taps into something fundamentally human—our subjective experience of reality.

Let's break it down with a real-life example. Imagine two people watching the same political debate. One person grew up in a household where a particular party was always supported and praised, while the other was raised in an environment that criticized that same party. They're watching the same debate, but their reactions are like night and day. The first person might see the candidate as charismatic and trustworthy, while the second might view the same candidate as manipulative and insincere. Their backgrounds and conditioning color their perceptions.

So, how do you apply this understanding in your own life? Start by recognizing that your initial reactions and judgments might be more about you than about the actual situation. When you find yourself in a disagreement, pause and consider why you see things the way you do. Ask yourself what past experiences are influencing your perspective. This can open the door to empathy and better communication. You can begin to understand where others are coming from and why they might see things differently.

Here's a story to illustrate this: Picture a young woman named Sarah who always believed she was terrible at math. Her parents struggled with numbers and often expressed their own frustrations. Because of this, she grew up with the idea that math was hard and that she was genetically predisposed to be bad at it. Fast forward to college—she has to take a required math class. She’s dreading it, expecting to fail. But this time, the professor takes a different approach, using real-world examples that make the concepts click. Sarah starts to see that maybe she's not terrible at math after all—she was just conditioned to think she was.

By acknowledging her conditioned perspective, Sarah could overcome her math anxiety. She realized that her upbringing shaped her view of her abilities more than any actual lack of skill. This awareness was the first step toward changing her perspective and ultimately succeeding in the course.

So, next time you find yourself saying, "That's just the way it is," take a moment. Ask yourself if that's really true or if it's just the way you’ve been conditioned to see it. By questioning and exploring your own biases, you open up the possibility of seeing the world in new and perhaps more accurate ways. And that’s a game-changer.