Yesterday, I talked about seeing the beauty within. Today is a new day.
As a child I was curious about everything. I always wanted to know more and as I kept growing and developing my view of the world changed. I lived in the same neighborhood growing up for over a decade and when I go back home visit my folks not much ever changes on the surface. What does change is my perception of everything. What was once a normal road to the bus stop is now a road brimming with memories and significance. Although the road is the same, I am flooded with childhood experiences, feelings, and thoughts about life. This road is no longer just "some road", it's a gateway to the past.
To me, the more I come to understand the world the more associations I'm able to make. Like walking down memory lane, these created associations come from experience. The more experience we have the more neural connections our brain makes, which creates more associations. The more associations we can create for something expands our view on it. Take this classic example of testing creativity: imagine a brick. How many uses can you think of for a brick? You can make a wall, you can use it as a paperweight, you can use it to crack walnuts, etc. The more associations you can make with bricks and the world around you the more uses for it you'll be able to imagine.
Someone looking at a brick who can only think of one or two uses for it compared to a person who can think of over 100 sees that very same brick very differently. The same is true for how he perceive everything. Things might look the same aesthetically, but their significance, symbolism, etc. have a major influence on their prominence and are thus different to the eye of the beholder.
Peace
"Two Zen masters were walking beside a stream. "How happily the fish are swimming in the stream," observed one. "You do not know the fish are swimming happily," observed the other, thoroughly schooled in the notion of projection. "You do not know that I do not know that the fish are swimming happily," countered the first, apparently even more thoroughly schooled in the notion of projection." - an old Zen storyOur interpretation of everything is based on our own projections of the world. Whether it's how we think our dog's feeling to the intentions of the people we interact with, we base everything on what we know and how it affects us.
As a child I was curious about everything. I always wanted to know more and as I kept growing and developing my view of the world changed. I lived in the same neighborhood growing up for over a decade and when I go back home visit my folks not much ever changes on the surface. What does change is my perception of everything. What was once a normal road to the bus stop is now a road brimming with memories and significance. Although the road is the same, I am flooded with childhood experiences, feelings, and thoughts about life. This road is no longer just "some road", it's a gateway to the past.
To me, the more I come to understand the world the more associations I'm able to make. Like walking down memory lane, these created associations come from experience. The more experience we have the more neural connections our brain makes, which creates more associations. The more associations we can create for something expands our view on it. Take this classic example of testing creativity: imagine a brick. How many uses can you think of for a brick? You can make a wall, you can use it as a paperweight, you can use it to crack walnuts, etc. The more associations you can make with bricks and the world around you the more uses for it you'll be able to imagine.
Someone looking at a brick who can only think of one or two uses for it compared to a person who can think of over 100 sees that very same brick very differently. The same is true for how he perceive everything. Things might look the same aesthetically, but their significance, symbolism, etc. have a major influence on their prominence and are thus different to the eye of the beholder.
Peace
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| What kind of world are you projecting? |
What kind of world are you projecting?
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