The map is not the territory

Principle number 1. The map is not the territory.

I used to have this principle in my mind (not as a NLP principle per se, but rather as a belief) equal to the “different point of view” that each person has over a topic, an issue, etc.

But now, I understand that it is something more than that. The “point of view” still sounds limited and narrow, based, of course, on each person’s sensory acuity and beliefs, whereas the “map is not the territory” is more promising, in the sense that there are a lot of “realities” and “details” on the map, not yet sensed or explored. And that is magnificent. It widens your perspective and it adds up to a bucket of valuable options, tools, serendipities and – why not? – realities to sense and exploit.

And, as much as I would like to cherish each and every detail on the sunset above, each and every pixel on the screen and each and every memory in my mind, I know, and it relieves me, that there is a whole world out there, beneath the water, behind the sun, below the sun and around, yet to be explored and sensed. And although I thought that my sensory acuity on that particular day was at its most, smelling my perfume, touching the sand, tasting his lips, listening to the sea and watching the sun set, I am once again relieved to think and to know all the unexplored realities out there to experience. And, as much as I know that this reality back then, my map, if you like, was only part of the territory, and in the process I managed to put more details and more pieces in there, pixels with more depth, more colours and more information, I stick to those memories and to those moments. To that very map of that very beautiful day in August 2020.

Blessed for those moments, thankful for the new information, impatient for the new ones to come, in a widened and constantly widening map.