We go through life filtering every interaction and every event by using only our personal experience, right?

No, not right.

As far back as human tribal groups have existed, our "filters" have been extended to include the experiences of others in our group.

And one of the greatest advances in human history was the ability to write down our own experiences and share them with others, even long after we're dead -- opening up our "filter" to be able to include the experiences of billions of other humans. Such abilities are expressed in the maxim, "Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it."

The point is that we have available to us the recorded experiences of billions of humans over the past thousands of years. We can learn from what others have gone through, what conclusions they reached, and what their conclusions led to. It does take some effort to learn about those other experiences, and some knowledge to be able to sort through what's valuable and what isn't, but simply ignoring all of that recorded experience and doing your own thing is rather silly.

Peace.

Yes, I agree. I might not use the word "filtering". And I don't think we use ONLY our personal experience. We also , even mainly, use a lot of secondary experience, such as hearsay things we've been told, social expectations, schooling, books, and like that. So we can judge things outside of ourselves, because most of our insides (of our intelligence, emotions, brains) comes from outside, to begin with.

We do "tailor make" our own realities, but that is not a conscious and rational process. We just hallucinate that "I've decided such and such", when really, we are 98% programmed.

And the better of us, with age and education, are fairly OPEN to other POV, and are eschewing intolerance and narrow-minded ness.

So, am I on your train of thought? I promise to get off at the next stop ! LOL

Most of us don't come here to offer our point of view on things. We come to announce to the world that only our point of view is the right one. True!

Ever heard of "Brainwashing" ? How about 'enlightened viewpoint ? Even 'educated''

Whatever you want to call it everybody has had some sort of indoctrination that affects their judgment call on a multitude of issues------and interestingly, as in politics for example a viewpoint (or position if you like that word better) can be diametrically different on issues seemingly similar for one camp yet showing great variation from individual to individual.

I like the term "Strained" instead of filtered in that the issue is very often being forced through the process which is supposedly extracting the solids from the liquids ! This word also contains the letters that compose "Trained" as well which gives also a shade of meaning/implication !

We have only our personal experience to draw on, that's true. However, some of us are not so arrogant to assume that we're the only ones that can be right. There is sometimes more than one correct answer. While my point of view is right and true for me, it may not be right and correct for you.

I do come here to offer my point of view on things, and I don't expect anyone to take very seriously what I say.

I come here to offer my point of view. I would never be so prideful as to think my point of view is the only one. There is no "right" point of view...how could there be?

Any way, we're not supposed to judge others, as difficult as that is.

Small - when I fell at the racetrack and dislocated my kneecap, a driver came up and told me I was the toughest chick he knew for putting my kneecap back in place myself. Total confidence booster while in pain. Embarrassing - missing a note while singing the national anthem in front of 2000+ ppl. Amazing - being at the peak of the mountain on my first day snowboarding Beautiful - Meeting the love of my life when he moved me out of my apartment, in the rain, and it just took one moment of locking eyes and we knew we were together for life... and we are.

Personal experience is just one of the filters that we can use.

Scripture is another one, and that helps us to view and discern things from God's vantage point.

That is the nature of conditioning.

Only through great effort can one begin to think outside the box.

No, because if you possess critical thinking skills, you know that "personal experience" is one of the least reliable sources of evidence.