Perception

The way you perceive things, the way your brain filters information through your own situation and experience, is important. It is something that we each cultivate. It is also something that can change.

An example I have always found easy to work with is that of driver and pedestrian. For most people there is an immediate perspective shift when they enter or exit a car. If you are crossing the street and a car almost hits you it is easy to think that obviously the driver needs to be more careful of pedestrians. Now you are the one driving the car and a pedestrian walks out into the street and you almost hit him you can easily find yourself thinking, that pedestrian needs to be more careful when crossing the street.

Our thoughts are not independent of our environment. Everything can have an effect on our thoughts. The odd thing is when you begin to become aware of the effect of external forces on your thoughts, it does not stop it from happening. I still change my opinion of the pedestrians right of way every time I enter a vehicle.

For some reason, most stories about enlightenment involve a journey of some type to a foreign land where the hero encounters things that challenge the way he views the world. Many time cultures that live in mountains will have the hero travel to the sea, and cultures that live in the lowlands will have the hero climb a mountain. This is because it is easier to change the way you think when you change the environment you are thinking in.

I find my trips to India so invigorating and interesting because they are an immersion in a totally different environment. It helps me to examine my own thoughts and reasoning. It is a vacation from “American Will.” Granted he comes with me to India, but he keeps quiet, he listens more, and he tries to learn something.