The Formidable Power of Context
A Paradigm Shift for Changing Times
What is context and why is it so important? A creative interpretation of context is to view it away from its usual backdrop — ambience, environment, or climate that surrounds human interactions. Instead, to imagine it as a powerful, invisible filter that affects every facet of our lives. An atmosphere and hermetic environment to which we are completely oblivious: Fish to water, air to bird, and man to himself. Context, as an all-encompassing phenomenon, literally gives birth to our inner world and what we see outward as a result. If left unchecked, it can distort our views of reality.
Rather than being something passive or neutral, context actively determines what we notice, how we interpret events, and ultimately how we make decisions. Like a set of tinted glasses that color everything we see, context influences our perception of relationships, situations, and ourselves. What makes context so potent is that it operates in the background, unseen and unexamined, yet it shapes our world as if it were objective truth.
I invite you to consider that it is the contexts we live from that are in charge of our perceptions and decisions — not the contents. We interpret content through these invisible force fields. To use a simple example, a gun is not the same gun to a hunter, a soldier, or the victim of an assault. As we aim to improve the content or quality of our lives, it is the context or filtering that needs examination and adjusting.
Life is Hard as a Context
If your underlying context is “life is hard,” then every experience, no matter how good, will be interpreted through this lens. A kind gesture might feel suspicious, a stroke of luck could be dismissed as fleeting, and challenges will loom larger than opportunities. Even when success comes, it might feel undeserved or temporary. The context of hardship makes it impossible to fully experience ease, because the filter ensures you only see struggle, perpetuating a self-fulfilling cycle. The context ensures the lens of struggle dominates and garanties hardship inevitably must resume.
The profound truth is that context shapes the architecture of our lives. A context of scarcity can turn a mansion into a prison, while a context of abundance can make a studio apartment feel like paradise. Changing the content — earning more money, changing jobs, finding new relationships — will never lead to fulfillment if the underlying context remains unexamined.
Conversely, shifting context alters everything. For instance, a person who shifts from “life is hard” to “life is a journey of discovery” will begin to see challenges as opportunities for growth. The world doesn’t change, but their experience of it does — profoundly, undeniably, and often instantaneously.
Context-Dominated Experiences
People Can’t Be Trusted
Living from “people can’t be trusted” means seeing betrayal where none exists. A friend forgetting to call becomes proof of neglect. A partner’s kindness might evoke suspicion of hidden motives. Even when surrounded by loyalty and care, the context selectively filters for perceived threats, blinding the person to the reality of genuine connection. They live in isolation, not because others have abandoned them, but because their context has.
The World Is a Dangerous Place
For someone immersed in “the world is dangerous,” even mundane actions become perilous. Walking through a crowded market feels like navigating a war zone. An invitation to try something new is perceived as reckless. Opportunities for growth, like moving to a new city or starting a business, are dismissed as suicide missions. The content of their life might be full of safety nets and supportive people, but the context makes every step forward seem like a life-threatening gamble.
I Have to Prove Myself
Imagine a CEO who, despite leading a thriving company, constantly feels inadequate. Every success is overshadowed by the thought, “What’s next? This isn’t enough.” Vacations are spent answering emails, family dinners become networking opportunities, and achievements are diminished by the looming fear of failure. The context of “I have to prove myself no matter what” prevents rest, joy, or satisfaction. Abundance has no value for this person.
Love Is Conditional
When “love is conditional” defines your reality, every act of affection feels precarious. A partner’s kindness might seem transactional: “What do they want from me?” A child’s rebellious phase could be perceived as rejection rather than growth. Even unconditional acts of love, like a parent’s sacrifice or a friend’s loyalty, are doubted. The context ensures love is seen as something earned or fragile, never freely given, even when the content says otherwise.
Context is the Software While Content is the OS
Your life is like an operating system — it is subject to visible processes (content) like circumstances, whether conditions, news, relationships, work, health, and decisions. But the operating system doesn’t create the experience. It’s the software — your context — that determines what the OS displays and how it functions. You could say that content (the OS) is neutral. For instance, in reality, rain is just rain, no interpretation comes with it. It doesn’t want anything from us. Things are just what they are, meaning comes after, through the software. No matter what shows up, the software will tell you what it is.
For example:
- If your software (context) is “Life is a struggle,” then the OS will display challenges, resistance, and scarcity, even if the external content changes.
- However, if you update the software to “Life is an adventure,” the same OS (life circumstances) begins to display opportunity, curiosity, and meaning, because the context now frames every process differently.
This means that working on content (upgrading the OS without touching the software) won’t fundamentally change your experience. You can tweak it endlessly — add new goals, relationships, or achievements — but it’s the invisible software that determines what to make of events, how to see it, and what to do about it.
You could say that the OS functions perfectly (life is just life) and the software you use also functions perfectly. If its name is “Life is hard”, it will show you just that. Whoever bought the program and inserted it in the computer now has to deal with what it does. Problems arise when we don’t know what program we’re running.
The History of Unworkable Contexts
These “tinted glasses” were not chosen by us — they were created during childhood, molded by conditioning, culture, and the beliefs we adopted without question. Unless we bring them into awareness and take a firm stand with new glasses, they take control of our views, limit our choices, and affect every facet of our lives. This distinction reveals that context is not simply a backdrop but a defining lens through which we construct meaning, experience reality, and determine our path forward.
Let’s take the profound example of prejudice — not merely as a belief without basis, but as a contextual framework, a deeply ingrained lens that unconsciously filters every perception and decision. Prejudice is not about isolated thoughts of favoritism, chauvinism, or racism; it is the invisible operating software that warps how reality is constructed. Through this lens, the world is distorted into a pattern of “us versus them,” a narrative written before any facts or evidence even emerge.
This context doesn’t just influence how we process information — it dictates it. It decides what we see, what we ignore, and what conclusions we reach before we’re even aware we’ve chosen them. Prejudice transforms the same human face into an enemy, and a threat.
When this unconscious framework goes unexamined, it acts as a self-perpetuating machine, reinforcing itself through every interaction and decision. The horrors we see in the news — the senseless violence, disharmony, and systemic injustices — are not the “content” of the world; they are symptoms of the pervasive, unchallenged context of prejudice. These tragedies are inevitable when the world is filtered through a context that dehumanizes, excludes, or diminishes others.
The power of this example lies in recognizing that addressing the content — laws, policies, or isolated thoughts and actions — cannot dismantle the horrors it produces. It is the context that must shift. Only when we see the lens for what it is — an inherited, often invisible distortion — can we consciously choose a new one, a context of inclusiveness, tolerance, and shared humanity. Through this transformation, the same world begins to display entirely different probabilities.
A Shift in Context Changes Our World
Updating the software to “Connection is truly possible” or “I can create anything when I listen to my intuition” alters the OS to display alertness, openness, understanding, and patience. Even challenging relationships feel richer because the context has shifted the tone of how you perceive and engage.
As we mature, learn, and develop, we become accountable for the way we see and act. An insight or a breakthrough is simply an instantaneous removal of these long-worn filters, which miraculously produce clear vision, a great sense of relief, and fulfillment. It is not so much that we are attached to our pain or stories about certain events in our lives, it is that we do not see the interpretation mechanisms that force us to view it negatively.
At this level of understanding, poor communication is simply poor filtering. The quality of my experiences is measured by the quality of the contexts from which I operate. When I become accountable for the contexts through which I see, speak, think, feel, and act, I can literally begin to shift how things occur to me. Things happen and then they occur to us. This hierarchy is critical. Disempowering contexts are everywhere; they generate a lot of unnecessary turmoil.
Taking a Stand: The Power of Contextual Declarations
There are mediocre, average, and great contexts. It takes courage to declare a new context and take a stand for it. When John Kennedy declared that we would put a man on the moon, the technology had not yet been invented. Very few people thought it could happen at the time, including NASA scientists and engineers. One man led the way by operating out of a sheer contextual possibility. It encouraged and challenged everyone at NASA and the world to generate a new paradigm shift so we could build the rocket that actually landed on the moon.
Taking a stand for a context is not merely about making bold declarations; it is about embodying and living from that context. It demands commitment and resilience, as the world often resists change until new evidence emerges. To take a stand for something is to anchor yourself in a possibility so deeply that it begins to reshape the occurring world.
The occurring world is not the factual reality of what is, but rather how we perceive and interpret events. It is the lens through which we view life, colored by our beliefs, values, and assumptions. When you shift the context, you shift the occurring world. What seemed insurmountable can suddenly appear achievable. Relationships that felt strained can take on new depth.
Context as a Generative Force
To declare a context is a creative act. Imagine declaring, “I am a person who transforms obstacles into opportunities” or “Everything I touch turns into gold.” These statements are not mere affirmations; they are generative declarations. They literally invent new possibilities into existence.
When you take a stand for yourself, you do not wait for evidence to justify your stance — you assume the evidence. The stand precedes the outcome. The power lies in acting as if the declared context is already true. This requires a change in paradigm. It is through the act of standing that transformation occurs.
Creative Accountability
Accountability transforms the context from a theoretical concept into an expected reality. For example, if you declare a context of “profound respect and new levels of understanding” in your relationships, every interaction will begin to shift.
Great contexts leave mediocrity behind. Disempowering narratives no longer rule our perception. Contexts are in fact contagious, they will shift how others think, feel, and act.
Context and the Future
When John Kennedy declared his moonshot vision, he wasn’t just taking a stand for technological advancement; he was taking a stand for human potential. He redefined what was possible and invited the world to join him in that redefinition. Context is not just about the present moment; it is about the future we stand to generate. What new contexts would you be willing to declare? Look at areas of your life where taking a stand might be missing or where altering your reality would make an enormous difference.
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“Essential Skills Aligning Purpose with Potential”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I have learned one elementary truth: people are not their fears, their doubts, or the ridiculous stories running loops in their heads. They are not the safe version they’ve crafted to please the world or their parents. No, people are geniuses waiting to explode onto the stage of their destiny. My job is to hand them the match. The world doesn’t need more clever minds chasing empty goals. It needs people who are awake, alive, and unapologetically themselves.
Life isn’t something I manage; it’s something I listen to. I trust it completely. Not as a theory, a new-age practice or a belief, but as an absolute — it’s who I am. Try to control life, and you’ll choke on your own limitations. I live by a single truth: my brain and body run my life, not my mind. My mind is a precious tool for research, stimulation, ideas, and communication with others — not my guide, my guru, my boss, or my friend. Energy moves me, not my thoughts. I trust its intelligence, instincts and intuition. This isn’t philosophy — it’s physics. I don’t think, I wait to move, and flow. The thinking is in the flow — not separate from it.
To me, transparency and openness are the foundations of all responses and the roots of action. I don’t deal in mediocrity; I deal in transformation, without apologies. The kind that leaves you speechless when you realize who you’ve become. I see people in technicolor. I see the masterpiece hiding inside, and I won’t let you or myself settle for anything less. I provoke, challenge, nurture, lead, and empower — not with formulas or vanity, but by breaking through the noise, false inadequacies, and self-doubt.
Outside of work? I keep my world simple. I cook like a mad scientist, travel to feed my senses, and play piano just because it feels good and keeps me humble. At heart, I value space, reflection, and meaningful connection over busyness. Humor — sharp, unrelenting humor — is my weapon against the dullness of small talk. I also write daily and publish articles about leadership, art, freedom, performance skills, personal growth and development, awareness, the mind’s folly, and what it means to be truly alive. My wife, the greatest partner, and I spend countless transformative hours in conversation, deepening our understanding of life, each other, and the one thing that truly matters: awareness.
I don’t have all the answers. But I know this: the education of self, and especially self-reliance, is the only education that matters because every decision we make is in fact a direction. Therefore, the choices we make as our authentic selves become the pivotal factors determining the quality of our experiences and their outcome. Regardless of what shows up, our instincts, intuition, and awareness represent the ultimate navigational system. This is where self-knowledge steps in. If there’s a thread that runs through everything I do, it’s this: trust life and trust yourself — it will set you free and bring you more than you could have ever imagined. The first-rate skills you learn as yourself will catalyze your talent and align purpose with potential.
Critical Skills to Empower Your Journey & Light up Your Soul
Since 1989, upon founding the Eric Stone Studio in Los Angeles, I have been coaching professional actors & voice artists, as well as business professionals. For Speaking & Media Engagements, Communication & Leadership Skills, Personal Growth and Development. Today, I am a Husband | Performance & Leadership Coach | Visual Artist & Talent Developer | Worked as a Professional Actor & Director in New York & Hollywood from 1979 to 2015 | Broadway | Soaps | & as Dubbing Professional in over 400 Films & Animated Series |
“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it! Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”
