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Jim Noeldner's avatar

First, understand. Then be understood. If you're going to succeed, indeed PROSPER in Rome, you must align with being a Roman, not just act like a Roman.

The Aperture Field Notes's avatar

Yes, and I think the distinction may be between assimilation and fluency. To “be Roman” can mean erasing one’s own pattern to fit the system, or it can mean understanding the system deeply enough that one’s own pattern can participate without distortion. I’m interested in that second movement: not self-expression without context, and not self-erasure for belonging, but pattern-in-context.