What Condition my condition is in

Two years ago today, probably sick of my Facebook female moanings about my disloyal now ex-husband, faced with my dad’s Alzheimer’s, termites in the house, etc, Terry wrote this in the comment section of one of my posts. His words echo strongly today, not just in relation to the ex, but humans in general.

Written 2018, by Terry Landry (https://www.discogs.com/artist/829114-Terry-Landry)

If you want to, you can go on forever searching for what’s wrong with you, or what you did wrong. That’s fine– no one can stop you from trying to own your responsibilities.

But I’d also suggest that at some point, after searching and searching for what’s wrong with you, and coming up empty handed, your responsibility is ALSO to make the judgement call that you did everything you possibly could, and you have a responsibility to yourself and your happiness, going forward. It’s sort of a taking inventory, where you say, “okay, I’ve exhausted my soul searching, my energy was clean throughout, I did the best I’m able, and even if I made mistakes, I’m not aware of any.” And then ask yourself if your ex can say the same. I think everyone reading this knows the answer to that.

In the middle of Mexico City is a giant central park, not unlike that in NYC. And in the middle of that park lies a real-life Cinderella palace. Literally. The first King of Mexico was the son of the king and queen of Spain, who, as was the practice in those days, in an effort to cement power, arranged for their son to marry royalty of a competing power. They chose a Hapsburg princess, thus cementing political bonds between Spain and what’s now Germany and Austria. That’s where Mexican traditions of beer making, and accordion music, including polka, come from.

To make his bride feel at home, the Mexican king built a residence for them in Mexico City– a genuine Bavarian castle, straight out of a Disney cartoon. Today, it’s part of the park, well-preserved, and open to the public. Anyone visiting Mexico City should stroll through the palace; it’s quite the unexpected bit of Mexican culture!

As one strolls through the palace today, one sees a recurring design motif; each staircase in the entire palace has bannisters on both sides, and at the end of each bannister, on the floor, is a 3/4 scale, white Italian marble sculpture of a lion in repose. There are quite a few of them, identical, all through the palace, and the base of each them bears an inscription, also identical on each one.

Roughly translated, it says:”The lion sees the world as having his condition.”

It’s been seven years since I stumbled onto this pithy saying, and to this day I keep finding new layers of meaning in it. And it has helped me understand all sorts of aberrant human behavior, my own included. It is the most instructive sentence I’ve ever encountered, and I’m unaware of any saying in English that expresses the same profound understanding of human nature.

“The lion sees the world as having his condition.”

The lion was the symbol of the Spanish royal family (and therefore, the symbol of Spain), so its presence in this motif is clearly meant to be symbolic of the king of Mexico himself; it’s a personal message to him (although from whom, I don’t know, it could even be from himself).

As for seeing the world as having his condition, I interpret that as this: if you’re a warm, generous, loving person, your subconscious, default expectation is that the people you encounter will be as warm, generous, and loving as you. By the same token, if you’re a lying, thieving, greedy melon farmer, then you assume everyone else is that, too.

If I correctly understand the reason this motif is inescapable within the royal palace, it’s a reminder of what it takes to be a wise ruler. A cautionary entreat to embrace diverse perspectives, rather than live in a bubble. It’s more than mere empathy; it’s acceptance of the reality that not everyone has the same agenda, and this realization is absolutely necessary, if one is to strategize to overcome all challengers and threats. Only by acknowledging the inherent diversity of motivation can one develop practical applications to address the realities one faces, then adapt and overcome.

At least, that’s what I’ve come up with, in the seven years this saying has grabbed hold of me. But obviously, I mention it here, because it has practical applications not just for ancient monarchs, but for us as well. It’s a good lens through which to filter life’s perplexing moments and conflicts.

If you’re continuing to search yourself for faults or mistakes you’ve made, I suggest this saying might help you get a better understanding. From my admittedly uninformed position, I speculate that if you did anything wrong at all, it was probably to “see the world as having your condition”– maybe instead of the way it truly is. You may have assumed your ex was in it as deep as you, for the same reasons as you, when hindsight shows that not to be true. So if there’s anything to learn before you close the whole chapter, it may be that you need to read clues a little better, and find out what kind of person you’re really dealing with in the future.

Of course I could be wrong, but it doesn’t matter; what matters is that YOU arrive at your own understanding, whatever that may be. And although I only know you a little bit, I’m comfortable offering the notion that it likely had nothing to do with you whatsoever.

Because “the lion sees the world as having his condition.”

I hope this helps, and I apologise that it may be presumptuous of me. But unless I miss my guess, this will help you make sense of it all, and regain control over your destiny.

Now go get ’em, tiger! By Terry Landry