THE GATEWAY TO HELL14/03/21
I first learned about 'beauty in the eye of the beholder' from Emmanuel Kant's philosophy. Many interpretations follow, but it wasn't until I experienced the perceptions of the concept itself.
I'd like to think that transformation is holistic changes for the better and discovery is to know something new, also for the better. Revelation transcends the material discovery to a social phenomenon where its most likely to be understood.
At first in a little while ago, I was reading a passage in a book that appealed to me. I like it that much I went back to read it again, only that I couldn't find it.
I believed what I saw and read what was written on paper is now a memory in my mind but couldn't explain why I couldn't find the passage in the book. Was I reading a passage from a dream or a dream experience from memory in my mind, I am left bewildered.
And this has happened again only last week when I turned up at a place where I wasn't expected. It's like a déjà vu with minor variations of the same thing.
Now I believe perception is when information is collected by the senses, it is filtered by the mind according to the mode of thinking. The mode of thinking consists of two filters; one of values which involve reasonable thinking, the other of desires which involve instincts. Mind you, desire can also be of values in an objective sense. In that case, one filter of subjective material desires and the other of objective values.
Trusting that values have the elements of doing what ought to be right, objective value filter is influenced by your cultural and religious beliefs. Your subjective desire filter is influenced by your material happiness including passion and addiction.
You see, habits, customs and traditions are not inborn, they are learned from trials and errors of experience as we grow.
At any given time, you are engaged in everyday worries of life. You might be thinking about your family, work and financial commitments. Or you could be thinking about having a good time partying or fishing and what have you. The possible time for the perception to occur is when one is under pressure such as ending a relationship or losing a job or loved one.
So while engaged in your everyday routine and you see an image or event as of other senses, it is filtered in the mode. The instinct filter kicks in to indulge in cravings and desires; the value filter attempts to interpret the image according to values and beliefs.
The stronger of the filters takes over the image. This may be true of frequent experiences of the same image that naturally falls in to same filter.
Now, without thinking you see an image and the filter is triggered, all of a sudden the image becomes part of the perception in your mind. And you are now experiencing the reality of the perception on a different layer. You are looking at an image, but your mind or instincts is interpreting the image as something else.
You believe that you are seeing the image as it is, but your eyes are deceived by the mode of your thinking.
I saw some videos online about similar experiences of people hearing evil messages in music. But I often wondered about people who claim the devil made them do things!
It may be an overblown indulgence of the senses that overwhelms the mind to influence the mode and modify the behaviour but there is a need to protect our minds from over exposure to material desires.
So, given the background of a person exposed to hatred, racism and core punishments, what kind of image they might perceive when the filter heightens the instinct.
How can you attempt to change desires and modify beliefs in a world where people are encouraged to exercise their rights and freedom to do as they please?
If covid-19 infects three people, it is likely to spread to nine other. But it mutates as it spreads and thus difficult to contain if at all. That's a possible wipe out. Our only hope is the vaccine. But, do people have a freedom and right to promote anti vaccine?
What if these people are living in a spell of an instinctual perspective? If so, then it is our duty to wake them up before sleep walking to the edge.
However, it is unlikely to be the only problem we'll face in the future. The mind is corrupt by overblown indulgence of the senses. At the same time, people have a right and freedom to exploit our faculties beyond the edge.
Self-indulgence in the image has transformed self-love to something else. In our modern world of material freedom, that something else is now in the eye of the beholder.