--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We become so used to the familiar that we…" description: "\"“We become so used to the familiar that we begin to doubt the unfamiliar, until our eyes are opened and we see .”\" — Ted Dekker" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e44/ted-dekker-1605_familiar_we-become-so-used-to-the-familiar-that-w_169065.png" --- # We become so used to the familiar that we begin to doubt… ![“We become so used to the familiar that we begin to doubt the unfamiliar, until our eyes are opened and we see .” quote by Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e44/ted-dekker-1605_familiar_we-become-so-used-to-the-familiar-that-w_169065.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e44/ted-dekker-1605_familiar_we-become-so-used-to-the-familiar-that-w_169065.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e44/ted-dekker-1605_familiar_we-become-so-used-to-the-familiar-that-w_169065.png) > ““We become so used to the familiar that we begin to doubt the unfamiliar, until our eyes are opened and we see .”” [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. We often trust what we know and distrust what we don't, until new insight reveals truth. **In simple terms:** Familiarity blinds us to new truths. Key Takeaway Seek fresh perspectives beyond comfort zones. Themes growth perception open‑mindness Mood curious reflective Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - personal relationships - career decisions - cultural exposure Key Concepts cognitive bias paradigm shift Questions to Reflect On - What unfamiliar truth could change your view? - How can you test assumptions before dismissing them? A Different Perspective New ideas can be unsettling and may meet resistance. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Eyes Opened](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/eyes-opened/) [Familiar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/familiar/) [Familiar Begin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/familiar-begin-1834812/) [Unfamiliar](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unfamiliar/) [Unfamiliar Eyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/unfamiliar-eyes-1834811/) [Ur Eyes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ur-eyes/) ## Related quotes > [Each of the essays in this volume ranges widely across technical and philosophical domains. 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The amateur forces his Sundays into…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dorothea-lange/photography-today-appears-to-be-in-a-state-of-flight-the-familiar-is/) [Dorothea Lange](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dorothea-lange/) > [Having lived in Utah all of my life, I can tell that in many ways I know of no place more lonely, no place…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-tempest-williams/having-lived-in-utah-all-of-my-life-i-can-tell-that-in-many-ways-i/) [Terry Tempest Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-tempest-williams/) > [What seems natural to us is probably just something familiar in a long tradition that has forgotten the unfamiliar source from which it arose.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/martin-heidegger/what-seems-natural-to-us-is-probably-just-something-familiar-in-a/) [Martin Heidegger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/martin-heidegger/) > [I disliked the unfamiliar happiness more than the familiar sadness](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tablo/i-disliked-the-unfamiliar-happiness-more-than-the-familiar-sadness/) [Tablo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tablo/) > [My work involves the physical manifestation of emotional reality. Thus, the invisible becomes visible; the normal, abnormal; and the familiar, unfamiliar. Ordinary life is…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sandy-skoglund/my-work-involves-the-physical-manifestation-of-emotional-reality-thus/) [Sandy Skoglund](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sandy-skoglund/) > [There is no easy or difficult; only familiar and unfamiliar.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenny-werner/there-is-no-easy-or-difficult-only-familiar-and-unfamiliar/) [Kenny Werner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenny-werner/) > [If you want things to change to different things, you must think different thoughts. And that simply requires finding unfamiliar ways of approaching familiar…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-hicks/if-you-want-things-to-change-to-different-things-you-must-think/) [Esther Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-hicks/) > [I know most players do, but I always keep both eyes opened. I still do it. 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And Yeshua warned…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/messianic-jewish-family/29then-he-touched-their-eyes-saying-according-to-your-faith-let-it-be/) [Messianic Jewish Family](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/messianic-jewish-family/) > [“God's Shams of Tabriz says to the heart's bud, "If your eyes are opened, you'll see the things worth seeing.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jalaluddin-rumi/god-s-shams-of-tabriz-says-to-the-heart-s-bud-if-your-eyes-are-opened/) [Jalaluddin Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jalaluddin-rumi/) > [How pleased we are to have our eyes opened but how easily we close them again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mark-haddon/how-pleased-we-are-to-have-our-eyes-opened-but-how-easily-we-close/) [Mark Haddon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mark-haddon/) > [The moment Eve bit into the apple, her eyes opened and she became free. She exposed the truth of what every woman knows: to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/terry-tempest-williams/the-moment-eve-bit-into-the-apple-her-eyes-opened-and-she-became-free/) [Terry Tempest Williams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/terry-tempest-williams/) > [“Her eyes opened. They were like petals submerged in tiny bowls of unchanged water.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-anderson/her-eyes-opened-they-were-like-petals-submerged-in-tiny-bowls-of/) [Edward Anderson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-anderson/) ## More by Ted Dekker > [Grow up? Get herself straightened out? Her mind reeled from the verbal battering. No matter what she did, her father would tell her she…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/grow-up-get-herself-straightened-out-her-mind-reeled-from-the-verbal/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [My idea for 'BoneMan's Daughters' came from the loss of my own daughter when she left home to live with a monster at age…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/my-idea-for-boneman-s-daughters-came-from-the-loss-of-my-own-daughter/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [And does man simply choose evil, or does he create it?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/and-does-man-simply-choose-evil-or-does-he-create-it/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [Who’s to say that it takes something like a drug to mess with your perception of reality? How did Hitler deceive a nation? How…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/who-s-to-say-that-it-takes-something-like-a-drug-to-mess-with-your/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [“doing good required taking risks.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/doing-good-required-taking-risks/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [“Pape called Basil his sanctuary. In truth we all exist in our own sanctuaries-but I don't mean cathedrals or prisons. I'm talking about our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/pape-called-basil-his-sanctuary-in-truth-we-all-exist-in-our-own/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [“The physical power of real love is staggering, because real forgiveness is staggering...”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/the-physical-power-of-real-love-is-staggering-because-real/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [“The only barrier to apprehending the truth is our own unwillingness to see the world as it is instead of how we prefer it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/the-only-barrier-to-apprehending-the-truth-is-our-own-unwillingness/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [What is pure Bill? Or excellent or admirable? The death of a million people in a flood? God evidently through so. He is incapable…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/what-is-pure-bill-or-excellent-or-admirable-the-death-of-a-million/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [It's critical that we use a very dark brush to paint evil. When you bring the light into that darkness as characterized in John…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/it-s-critical-that-we-use-a-very-dark-brush-to-paint-evil-when-you/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [Sin thrives in the dungeon, but slap it on the table for all to see, and it withers rather quickly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/sin-thrives-in-the-dungeon-but-slap-it-on-the-table-for-all-to-see/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [“Elyon was restoring the Great Romance. Teeleh had stolen his first love, but now Justin had reclaimed her. The price had been his own…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/elyon-was-restoring-the-great-romance-teeleh-had-stolen-his-first/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [The good news is that even though we walk through this valley of death, we don't have to fear, at least not for ourselves!…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/the-good-news-is-that-even-though-we-walk-through-this-valley-of/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [Perfect, that's our plan then. But you'll have to give up being a priest first. I wouldn't want to just sit around whispering and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/perfect-that-s-our-plan-then-but-you-ll-have-to-give-up-being-a/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) > [“The Beatles insisted he let it be, let it be. Stephen ejected the tape from his eight-track and threw it on the floor of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/the-beatles-insisted-he-let-it-be-let-it-be-stephen-ejected-the-tape/) [Ted Dekker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) [Explore all 222 Ted Dekker quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/) ## More Familiar quotes > [ There was another reason \[she\] took her books whenever they went away. They were her home when she was somewhere strange. They were familiar… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cornelia-funke/there-was-another-reason-she-took-her-books-whenever-they-went-away/) [Cornelia Funke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cornelia-funke/) > [It's a very familiar type of place where people either go to their house on the lake or they get together in different places.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steve-carell/it-s-a-very-familiar-type-of-place-where-people-either-go-to-their/) [Steve Carell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steve-carell/) > [Photography's potential as a great image-maker and communicator is really no different from the same potential in the best poetry where familiar, everyday words,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-caponigro/photography-s-potential-as-a-great-image-maker-and-communicator-is/) [Paul Caponigro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-caponigro/) > [Meanwhile, the trees were just as green as before; the birds sang and the sun shone as clearly now as ever. The familiar surroundings…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-hardy/meanwhile-the-trees-were-just-as-green-as-before-the-birds-sang-and/) [Thomas Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-hardy/) > [This kind of horror has become all too familiar to us. As parents, Cindy and I offer our prayers to the memory of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-mccain/this-kind-of-horror-has-become-all-too-familiar-to-us-as-parents/) [John McCain](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-mccain/) > [Any creative process is about being in a territory which isn't secure, isn't necessarily familiar, and isn't convenient in any sort of way. And…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/susanne-bier/any-creative-process-is-about-being-in-a-territory-which-isn-t-secure/) [Susanne Bier](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/susanne-bier/) > [By the time they were pulling into the parking lot of the A&P, the mood was fading, the moment gone. Amy could feel it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/elizabeth-strout/by-the-time-they-were-pulling-into-the-parking-lot-of-the-a-p-the/) [Elizabeth Strout](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/elizabeth-strout/) > [I don't look to play people that are familiar. I look to play people that are different, challenge, unknown, foreign, and therefore scary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-jessica-parker/i-don-t-look-to-play-people-that-are-familiar-i-look-to-play-people/) [Sarah Jessica Parker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-jessica-parker/) > [My pet peeve is hearing a knock on the bathroom door followed by the familiar words, 'What are you doing in there?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/karen-scalf-linamen/my-pet-peeve-is-hearing-a-knock-on-the-bathroom-door-followed-by-the/) [Karen Scalf Linamen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/karen-scalf-linamen/) > [The barman sidled toward them out of a back room. He was a grump-looking old man with a great deal of a long gray…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/the-barman-sidled-toward-them-out-of-a-back-room-he-was-a-grump/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Television is a thing that people get very familiar with. They want to hear your voice in their head.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/damon-wayans-jr/television-is-a-thing-that-people-get-very-familiar-with-they-want-to/) [Damon Wayans, Jr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/damon-wayans-jr/) > [It's truly gratifying to see my films reach beyond a familiar public, to get a chance to move new audiences. It's nuts. It's extraordinary.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jacques-audiard/it-s-truly-gratifying-to-see-my-films-reach-beyond-a-familiar-public/) [Jacques Audiard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jacques-audiard/) > [When I was in high school, I was a bad singer. I mean, all my early acting was musical theater, and my first ever…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sam-claflin/when-i-was-in-high-school-i-was-a-bad-singer-i-mean-all-my-early/) [Sam Claflin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sam-claflin/) > [Fella’s a genius. Best ever by a distance in my life time. Never really saw Pele… Souness, Gullit, Venables and now Rooney agree Messi…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gary-lineker/fella-s-a-genius-best-ever-by-a-distance-in-my-life-time-never-really/) [Gary Lineker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gary-lineker/) > [Sometimes all it takes is a tiny shift of perspective to see something familiar in a totally new light.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-brown/sometimes-all-it-takes-is-a-tiny-shift-of-perspective-to-see/) [Dan Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-brown/) [Browse all 1,916 Familiar quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/familiar/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“We become so used to the familiar that we begin to doubt the unfamiliar, until our eyes are opened and we see .”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Ted Dekker" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/we-become-so-used-to-the-familiar-that-we-begin-to-doubt-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Familiar" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/we-become-so-used-to-the-familiar-that-we-begin-to-doubt-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e44/ted-dekker-1605_familiar_we-become-so-used-to-the-familiar-that-w_169065.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e44/ted-dekker-1605_familiar_we-become-so-used-to-the-familiar-that-w_169065.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/e44/ted-dekker-1605_familiar_we-become-so-used-to-the-familiar-that-w_169065.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“We become so used to the familiar that we begin to doubt the unfamiliar, until our eyes are opened and we…” — Ted Dekker", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Ted Dekker", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-dekker/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“We become so used to the...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/we-become-so-used-to-the-familiar-that-we-begin-to-doubt-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-dekker/we-become-so-used-to-the-familiar-that-we-begin-to-doubt-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```