The World Doesn't Revolve Around Me...

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I've often struggled with the idea that the world doesn't revolve around me. 

I mean, I'm not a narcissist, but that idea has never made sense to me. If you are rich or famous, then the world does revolve around you. If you are a baby or a child, then the world revolves around you. But these states of being are hardly accessible to the majority of us. Instead, we get the world to revolve around us in a different way. Just by being ourselves. 

Our lives – our experiences – limit our understanding of the world. In order to expand this understanding, we must be conscious about seeking new stories, histories and experiences that challenge, deconstruct or affirm our own. Without this external knowledge, then the world will feel like it exists for us; to service our every whim and exercise our every flaw. 

This may explain why, in the absence of such knowledge, a particular group of people struggle to accept or acknowledge other peoples' worlds. They struggle to accept that the world does not revolve around them. And, perhaps more frustratingly, it never has. 

I understand what people mean to say when they remind you of this fact. Even though it flies in the face of everything we know about our world. They are reminding you that, even though you are not an individual. You are part of a community. You are part of a team. And you must surrender yourself to this team.

I think The Ancient One in Marvel's Doctor Strange does it best. As she dies, she reminds Stange that "It's not about you." His arrogance and his fear of failure have kept him from embracing others; from true greatness. True greatness isn't about how many accolades one collects, or how many things one assumes. It is not about you. It is about how you relate to others. How much joy and peace you bring to their lives. The Ancient One says this to remind Strange to let go of himself and embrace the world around him. 

To, for the first time in his life, allow the world to include other people. 

A terrifying proposition indeed. Perhaps because we know what other people are like. Or because we do not trust ourselves to rise to the privilege and burden of responsibilities. Perhaps we are afraid that if we allow the world to revolve around others, we will fail. In one way or another.

Either way, I would much prefer a world that does not revolve around me. 

At least this way, I shall not be alone. 


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