I am not sure where I read this story about Robbie Burns. As I remember it he was riding on a bus of some sort. The bus stopped and a new passenger got on and seated herself directly in front of Burns. She was elegantly dressed and portrayed an aristocratic attitude. As he watched her preen herself he noticed a large cockroach crawling up the back of her collar.
"O wad some Power the gif tie gie us
To see ourselves as others see us!"
Perhaps I was dreaming. At any rate a recent anonymous visitor to one of my blogs pointed out that he sees truth as a perception of how he sees reality. Perhaps that person was remembering a quote from Eckhard Teaching videos, "You don't see things as they are, you see them as you are." Or perhaps Eckhard was paraphrasing the American author Anais Nin!
At any rate there are all kinds of theories as to how we perceive reality. Is what we see only an image in our mind, a kind of virtual reality? "Perception is reality!" as they say. Do we actually see the tree or is it just an image in our mind, a kind of hallucination perhaps? Falling back on my old friend Aristotle who, I believe, positioned himself in the middle. He suggested that all knowledge of reality is our perception, but, at the same time he also identified reality with objects in the world.
One day this week I came into contact with reality in the world. I was walking back to my car, stepped on some black ice in the parking lot, and took a good wallop on the wet shiny surface. I am certain it was more than my perception of the hardness of ice! Nor was it some type of virtual reality either! I also know that when the sun 'goes down' each evening and I am enjoying its magnificent beauty, it is not really going down at all! I still think it's beautiful.
On the other hand Maslow saw successful adjustment to our social environment as successful adjustment to our inner nature. Whatever the ultimate answer, these discussions have taught me not to be so quick in judging the actions of others.
I have learned that our perception of reality is filtered through our culture, our family, our beliefs, our education, our life experience, our mood at the time and all the rest of it. It has happened, for example, that someone has said something that I took offence to or what they said made me feel very stupid and humiliated. In fact it sometimes kept me awake at night 'cursing' the individual or kicking myself because I thought others perceived me as being dumb. When I took the time later to raise the issue I often learned that was not the intent of the other person at all. The problem was I was sifting their remarks through my filters at that time: fatigue, my value system, my lack of sleep or whatever. My reaction was based more on what was going on with me at that moment than on the local stimulus.
I now know that the earth is not flat, as was once believed, and I also know that I can't be too quick to judge others because I bring to each encounter everything that I am and believe, and that always imposes my slant on the interaction.
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| After All...I am a Leo! |
One day this week I came into contact with reality in the world. I was walking back to my car, stepped on some black ice in the parking lot, and took a good wallop on the wet shiny surface. I am certain it was more than my perception of the hardness of ice! Nor was it some type of virtual reality either! I also know that when the sun 'goes down' each evening and I am enjoying its magnificent beauty, it is not really going down at all! I still think it's beautiful.
On the other hand Maslow saw successful adjustment to our social environment as successful adjustment to our inner nature. Whatever the ultimate answer, these discussions have taught me not to be so quick in judging the actions of others.
I have learned that our perception of reality is filtered through our culture, our family, our beliefs, our education, our life experience, our mood at the time and all the rest of it. It has happened, for example, that someone has said something that I took offence to or what they said made me feel very stupid and humiliated. In fact it sometimes kept me awake at night 'cursing' the individual or kicking myself because I thought others perceived me as being dumb. When I took the time later to raise the issue I often learned that was not the intent of the other person at all. The problem was I was sifting their remarks through my filters at that time: fatigue, my value system, my lack of sleep or whatever. My reaction was based more on what was going on with me at that moment than on the local stimulus.
I now know that the earth is not flat, as was once believed, and I also know that I can't be too quick to judge others because I bring to each encounter everything that I am and believe, and that always imposes my slant on the interaction.
And that's Dick's View of the World this Week
If I were in full possession of truth, I'd have no reason to think.
ReplyDeleteMy mediaeval memory goes back to Meister Eckhart.
ReplyDeleteNow I learn there is an Eckhart Tolle.