EYES TO SEE
Have you eyes with which to see? Have you
ears with which to hear? You will say yes, of course. Even when
blind and deaf, most of us believe ourselves to be of open mind; to be
intelligent enough; to consider different ways of looking at things; to willingly,
industriously engage things, even anomalies, in order to identify
or Name a thing before deciding how we should interact with it (when possible).
……….
Now: a charismatic speaker is presenting
his ideas for a community center at location A. He represents persons
indigenous to location A. He is well received. People find him
pleasant looking and accept his plans as positive. Plans proceed, the
community center services many, and the charismatic speaker moves to an area
further away.
Later:
a speaker is presenting his ideas for a community center similar to one that he
built in his own hometown. He seems earnest enough, and if the
information he presents is correct it might solve many issues for their own
community. Some of his ideas are a bit quaint, but perhaps some changes
could be made to adapt this idea for their own community.
Thirdly: yet another person is speaking who wants permission to
build something in the community; something that will raise taxes. He
seems like a small town zealot. Can he not see that what worked in his
back woods world would not work here? Is he looking for an easy living or
large salary at their expense while he builds this magical community
center for them? They also find his physical appearance, so
unlike their own, somewhat off-putting.
Lastly: who is this man from the other side of the world,
promoting this ridiculous agenda? He looks like another species of human
and has the gall to believe that civilized peoples might concern themselves with
gathering under these conditions for those reasons he so values. How
utterly ridiculous they find his agenda—and the idea that the project should be
funded at the taxpayers' hardworking expense. What a charlatan.
This speaker
is promoting the same agenda to different groups of people in different
places. Their lifestyles and social guidelines are different. This
is the kind of different hearing and different seeing that you would expect to
see in people, based on how they value and assess things. But, let us
return to that first meeting . . .
One hundred people attend a meeting wherein a
charismatic speaker is presenting his ideas for a community center. Most
of those people hear that the center will be located centrally, offer elder
care, child care, medical services, educational and job opportunities, and
support for those in need of financial assistance. Most of those people
recognize the speaker.
Only those opposed to or interested in elder
care or child care will remember the proposed budgets for those services or the
specifics related. There are three persons in the audience needing
medical care who know they can’t wait for this center to open; their minds
begin to wander as they contemplate other options. Two need dental care
and are in fact having pain so intense they are having a difficult time
focusing on anything in particular that is being said.
Seven have come to the meeting in a status of
unemployment, hoping to obtain details about the community center and secure a
job in its construction. One is a nurse wanting to someday work closer to
home. Ten are mothers; two who want to work in daycare and eight who need
daycare closer to home—they listen, but are distracted by their pressing,
personal needs.
An elderly couple in the audience owns the land
proposed for the community center. The man has recently discovered that
he has terminal cancer and hopes to sell the land while there is still time to
seek treatment in a large medical center far from home. Three rows back,
a woman sits enraptured by the speaker, having been in love with him for most
of her life; his words blur as she enjoys merely being in the room with him.
If interviewed upon leaving this meeting, you
would receive very different accounts with very different emphases on matters
pertinent to each speaker, about how the agenda was handled. This is so
in life. We all have materia prima in our dialogue and
outlook. What is important to us? What matters most highly?
Yes. Our beliefs color our senses.
Our senses are trained by our beliefs. Do you think this isn’t
true? Go to a tanner’s or a perfumery, or merely a restaurant where the
smells that are so overwhelming to you, have virtually disappeared to the
workers. The cacophony at the factory? How long did it take to
become a background hum? When was the last time you beheld a cloud in the
blue sky and stopped, amazed by what your eyes were seeing—truly?
We cannot go about in a state of constant
excitation. We cannot behold the minutia of life with thrall.
Madness would set upon us. We must filter. Therefore, we must
habituate. The question is: how do we habituate, and to what level,
under which guidelines and what beliefs? Study this idea for yourself.
You
have eyes with which to see. What are their filters?
Blessed Be This Day
This is a Direct Voice Communication from my Tribe,
Spirit Elders who share their wisdoms with me
from the other side of the veil.
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
a July 14, 2014 reprint
Photo by Marc Schulte on Unsplash
