Perception Filtering

Have you ever looked at a familiar word after you'd written it and thought "That can't be the way it's spelled"? Somewhere in the tangle of your conciousness you know that it's silly to second guess the fact that aisle is spelled with an s in the middle. You've written this word hundreds of times and yet, as you stare at it, it just seems wrong. A minute later some switch flicks and you can't believe that you were ever able to doubt. Your perspective has changed - and the world as you know it is remolded.

We do not (for the vast majority of the time anyway) see the world as it is, but rather as we have learned to see it. Everything that is even slightly abstract or theoretical is subject to our interpretation. And we love to trick ourselves. There's a lot of pain, hurt and confusion out there (although there are those who would disagree even with that) so we construct channels, barricades and pitfalls to prevent as much of it as possible from reaching us. It never works completely but practice makes almost perfect, and some people have discovered how to numb out or explain away everything that they come up against that doesn't fit into their customised paradigm. No group or individual is exempt or above this self-inflicted disease. Some individuals appear to be more free than others; usually those who realise that they are subject to 'perception filtering'. What can be done? Well, just acknowledging that you do 'it' too is a start. After that one can begin, piece by cemented piece, to chip at the barriers that one has carefully constructed and as real light trickles in, start to accept truth (all truth) as strong medicine that pains us when we take it but, in spite of that, will eventually make us supple and strong.