3 ways to see things the way they are
By: Aishvarya Raj
Tags: Language, Mental Health, Mind

Three things that hinder us from seeing things the way they are:

1. Language

Language is an essential part of expression and yet expression itself skews the meaning of what you are trying to express. There is no way to express without in some way ‘grasping’ something, but as soon as you ‘grasp’, you are no longer referring to what you were trying to grasp but instead your own creation that lies vaguely close to the truth. A simple analogy for this is colour: We all know that green and yellow are the same thing at slightly different frequencies of light but when we give them different names, we create a false sense of separateness and we lose the connection between the two. The same thing is true for words expressing anything. The problem is that no matter how large your vocabulary is, it will never be enough to express the infinite. There is obviously no tangible issue with this because we don’t need to express the infinite. The problem only arises when we try to understand the world with the lens through which we communicate it to others. In other words, if you can only think in the words you know, you’re really limiting how broadly and deeply you can think. Not only that, but what you think you are “understanding” is not reality.

2. The Senses

Unfortunately, as long as you have a body, you won’t be able to know past your senses but being aware of this is the only thing that matters. My cat sees the world differently than I do. So which world is real? The only thing you can do is not give too much importance to sensory perception and view it only as a tool to get by in life.

3. The Mind

You make sense of the world through memory and ponder the possibilities through imagination. If you have ever experienced going back to a childhood place after many years you will see that everything seems so much smaller than it was years ago. Your memory depends on your exposure and state of mind! Imagination is a remarkable characteristic of the mind that allows for art and innovation, but again, you are the creator.

Three ways to overcome these barriers:

The easiest way to see what’s real is to recognise what is not.

1. change your outer environment

Go on holiday! Or just put yourself in a completely new situation. This is an easy way to give yourself perspective on the range forms the same object can take.

2. change your inner environment

First of all, I am not condoning drug use. However, altering you mind into different states (dream, wake, drunk — whatever) through whichever means changes your sensory perception and your mind. In a way, you are changing the lens through which you see the world but remember — it is still a lens. Realise that in any state of mind, you are perceiving your environment through a lens and when you replace it with another, the environment seems to change. That which changes depending on the lens cannot be absolute. That which stays the same in all reference frames must be real.

3. approach every moment from a state of nothingness or neutrality

If you are trying to make a decision or form an opinion, before you do so, give yourself total amnesia — approach it as a newborn. You may be surprised by the conclusion you reach. It may differ greatly from popular opinion. Doing this will also show you what an absurdly preposterous and phenomenal joke this universe is.