Success Manifesto

I’m currently teaching at a reading enrichment after-school program in Harlem.
My 3rd grade
class is focusing on Fairy Tales. Looking through some books for a read aloud, I
came across the story of The
Emperor’s New Clothes. I remembered very little about it from my childhood
days – just that the emperor ended up proceeding down the street naked. The
story actually struck a cord with me. In the story, the Emperor is fooled by
some thieves into believing that he has a new ‘high-tech’ set of robes that can
determine who is intelligent and fit for their job based off of who can see his
clothes. Anybody who cannot see the robes, is stupid and unfit for their
position. The Emperor had sent individually ahead of him various trusted
assistants to make sure the robe was going well. Each was embarrassed that they
could see nothing, so they lied and vowed to themselves that they would never
let anybody know. When the king finally came and could see nothing, he was
shocked. Since everybody else was telling him that the robes were beautiful
though, he figured he had better go along with it. The story really struck a
cord with me, as I often notice people following the same pretenses in life.
Have you ever been in a situation where you don’t quite understand something
said, but everybody else seems to, so you just go along with it? Also, I’ve
noticed in some spirituality books I’ve read that they argue if you do not agree
with the “truth” which they put forth, then it is simply because you are “not
ready for it yet”. The same arguments come up for art and movies – if you do not
like it, it is because you “don’t understand it” or “don’t get it”. The problem
I’m facing here is: when is it true that I’m just not ready for something, and
when do I simply not agree? I suppose after considering and trying to understand
an idea I am initially opposed to, it will put me in a better position to decide
whether I simply disagree or you really don’t understand.