Note #027
Perspective Matters
“Sometimes all it takes is a tiny shift of perspective to see something familiar in a totally new light.”
The spoon in the pot full of water in the kitchen sink…the handle had a bend in it. An angle, maybe a 120 degree angle. An angle that wasn’t supposed to be there.
It was such a powerful optical illusion. What made it bend? Why I could see it and my breakfast companion could not?
The spoon in my kitchen sink.
This word “refraction”
came to mind. I don’t know where from. I didn’t know what it meant, it was just there - taking up a lot of space in the language center of my brain.
Refraction = (n) 3: the action of distorting an image by viewing through a medium
(from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/refraction)
I had to look that up. But somewhere along the way, possibly 7th grade science with Ms. Bernie Lou Brand, my mind had stored that word away for future use. (Makes me wonder what else is stored in there…for future use. Let’s explore this in a post down the road. Could be fun! Might be scary.)
I wonder about refraction.
Could it also be that something other than an image is distorted? Could it be that our thoughts and beliefs, our understandings might also be distorted? Our world view?
And what about the “medium”. In my spoon-in-the-pot experience, the medium was water. What other potential mediums may exist that distort?
So of course, now I’m on to ideas, philosophies, beliefs, news stories, experiences, emotions. And I get to thinking… “Oh, boy, my whole life could be a refraction!”
So here’s what old Merriam has to say about the verb form:
“refract b : to alter or distort as if by refraction
| to refract that familiar world through the mind and heart of a romantic … woman —Anton Myrer”
So yes, non-material things can be refracted. In the above example by Myrer, the medium through which the distortion occurs is the mind and heart — of a romantic … woman, no less. (I wonder what Anton means by that?)
I summarize my whole thought exploration in this way: “A person’s mind and heart refract the experience of the world.” And then “Ego” pops into my mind. Well of course the ego is a big distorter of things.
My mind now says “Wow!”
And then, “Yes, of course. How could it be any other way?”
How often do we really see things as they are?
We each experience life through our own subjective lens. That lens is a collection of all our previous experiences, our beliefs, our personal philosophy of life, our proclivities, our emotions, our patterns, and our ego, tied up by the pretty ribbon of our personal narrative style.
When I was exploring the deep inner workings of the human mind in my meditation studies with several teachers over many years, I pieced together this cascade of conditional reasoning —
“The quality of your mind determines your experience. Your experience is your life.
So then…the quality of your mind determines your life.”
How clean, clear, and unobstructed is the mind? My mind? Your mind? The collective mind?
Now that’s the real exploration!
Until the mind is free from obstruction, each of us will refract life. We will have a distorted perspective of what it is, of who we are, of what it all means. Of what is.
Deep thoughts, I know. And I have really been coming up hard against the fact that so much of what I thought I knew is turning out not to be the case at all! So much of what I once believed is turning out to be incorrect. My own emotions can be quite deceptive, the little scoundrels. A significant amount of my “knowledge” turns out to be based on a false premise — way back at the root of the concept.
Perspective-taking has become a regular event
in my daily life. Pausing when I hear information and asking “Is that really true?” is more common in my life than it ever has been. And it feels right and necessary. It is the ground I stand on when the rug of reality gets ripped out from under me.
(For a more in-depth practice of this line of inquiry, Byron Katie is a good resource.)
How often do you stop to take perspective? Is it a regular practice in your life to consider “Is that really true?”? How often to you adapt, sometimes unconsciously, (mostly unconsciously?) to what you hear or see out there in the world because “they” said?
Even if you see it with your own eyes, or hear it with your own ears, it might be a really good idea to ask “Is that true? Is that really true?”
I mean, look again at that blue spoon up there! Yes, it really is bent. I see it with my own eyes!
But no.
It is not bent.
It is as straight as an arrow.
Refraction can be tricky. It might be a big fat liar liar, pants on fire.
It’s up to you to take perspective. Often. Ask the questions. Don’t be afraid to dig deep, to really inquiry.
It’s up to each one to experience an undistorted reality. And that may be our whole life’s work and purpose right there.
“We don’t see things as they are. We see them as we are.”
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All the love there is —
Molly
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