Someone once told me we all perceive ‘reality’ like blind men describing an elephant. Here’s how it works. Three men are asked to describe an elephant using only the sense of touch. They have no preconceived notions about these animals. One man stands at the beast’s trunk, another by its tail and the third by its broadside belly. The fellow in the rear declares an elephant is like a snake, long and smooth. The trunk man says this mystery creature is like a tree with rough bark all up and down. Finally, the last man declares elephants resemble walls so large he could not reach it all. The kicker is this; they’re ALL right! – and they’re all WRONG! The culprit here? POV, point of view – or in this case, point of touch!
Whenever we perceive anything – ANYTHING AT ALL - we cannot avoid the distortion that happens when impulses passes through our individual sense-filters. Ironically, our sense organs DO provide us clues about our environment but they also simultaneously obscure the truth. It’s no wonder so many enlightened ones teach us that mundane life as we know it is an illusion.
Let us not forget that our senses are only capable of perceiving a TINY fraction of a far, far greater whole. They say “seeing is believing.” Well, seeing may be believing but it can ALSO be deceiving. For instance, look up into the night sky and tell me, which is bigger, the moon or the stars? The answer is the stars, of course. Naturally, your eyes tell you the exact opposite of what is actually true. In this case anyway, seeing is deceiving. The moon only APPEARS larger because we are so much closer to it. This is POV at work. There are countless examples of how sense organs report misleading information. Stationary objects feel solid to the touch but they are really porous and made of billions of energy clusters moving about near the speed of light!
The disconnect between reality and perception is not limited to your five physical senses. There are other filters we all depend on to evaluate what is true, false, good and bad in the world. The environment you grew up in, how your parents raised you, your religion, native culture, social circles and economic status - everything about your life from your conception until this very moment colors, and yes DISTORTS, your ability to understand what is really true and accurate.
Let me leave you with these questions. What would the world be like if people tried to see past mere appearances? What wars would end if we could see past the color of a man’s skin, or think ‘outside the box’ of our own religious programming? How would the face of the world change if we saw differences between our fellow humans as a good thing instead of something to be feared and destroyed?
My humble advice? LOVE the divine spark in everyone you meet. Everything else is just window dressing!
