Every person is unique; every situation happens only once. This exact combination of factors coming together at this moment never was and never will be again. This is what’s called the meaning of the moment.
The best response for each situation in life has to take a specialized, unique interface of factors into account. And you have to be flexible, because you have to do what’s going to work for this scenario, not another one. (The Doctor and the Soul, p. 42-43)
Why then, do we human beings tend to be so inflexible?
We don’t see the reality in front of us, and we plow ahead with our agenda, oblivious to whether or not it fits the reality.
And why don’t we see? It’s usually because we don’t want to see. We don’t want to be feeling what we’re feeling. We don’t want the other person to be feeling what she’s feeling. We don’t want what is happening to be happening.
But we feel what we feel, and other people feel what they feel, and things happen whether we like it or not.
If we respond based on what we wanted to have happened instead of what actually happened, we won’t respond the right way. But if we start out with one idea in mind and see that the reality calls for something else, we’ll respond in a way that’s effective and right. It’s as simple as that.