The Lens of Perception

Have you ever realized that we don't really live in a real world? Actually, let me qualify that - the world around us is as real as reality. The image of the world in our minds, however, is generated after we perceive it through our five (and for some lucky folk, six) senses, and interpret what we perceive. Everything we soak in from around us - colors, odors, the touch of a loved one - goes through the lens of our minds before it becomes available to us as "the world" we live in. I think it's no understatement to say that we really do live in a virtual world. That's why everybody looks at things differently, has their own viewpoints, and so on.

Now let's talk a bit about that lens, shall we? The way our mind interprets what it perceives is based on, literally, a chaotic number of things. Our lens is shaped as we grow by childhood events, thoughts, reactions to thoughts, new thoughts spawned by old thoughts, bad memories, good memories...quite literally everything under the towering roof of the solar system. I personally think that this is why every person is different from the other. We've all gotten our lens shaped differently, because we've all lived different lives. and our perception of reality - the shadow of the world in our minds - differs from each other. Think about it this way - if our perception of the world were somehow absolute, the psyche of every human being would essentially be exactly the same!

So this lens is what plays the lead role in the old cliche of a glass being half-full or half-empty. My main point here - and this does not come from me but from many close people I've had endless discussions with - that it is possible to change this perception if you really want to. It is possible to change yourself, to change the way you respond to things. I've seen people do it, believe me, and it is not the easiest thing in the world, by far. I'm not fool enough to come out and say, oh don't worry, just will it and things will change overnight. There's no miracle here - no parting of the seas in your mind. It takes time, patience and hard work, but it can be done. I've seen it being done, damn it. I've seen people change right in front of me, with nothing but their determination and free will.

Now you may ask, why is it so hard? Have you ever tried to kick a habit? It's impossible as hell, isn't it? Chewing nails, blinking your eyes too hard, cracking your joints...all of these are nightmares to give up, because they happen unconsciously. Now imagine a thought you are trying to give up - a mental habit if you will. Sounds daunting? It is. At least with habits of the body, it takes a second or two to bring your nails to your mouth. With mental habits, there's no motion, no click, no poof of smoke. It just happens. Thoughts just morph.

And that's why it is so hard. And that's why, when armed with this knowledge, a person can give up a bad thinking habit - can correct his lens of perception like a self-appointed optometrist. They say, after all, that you should keep your friends close but your enemies closer.

I've always thought all my life that I am just the way I am. I can't change myself or the dependence on my emotions. At one point - and here's a crazy thought - I used to think that nobody is a sinner. Everybody has a reason for committing a sin. Imagine somebody who's neck-deep in poverty's mire, who hasn't eaten in three days, and is standing outside the window of a bakery. The only thing that separates him from a loaf of bread is a sheet of glass. Don't you think his fantasies would revolve around the sweet sound of that window shattering? Why should he be a sinner if he steals food to feed himself? Where is his fault in the grand scheme of things? This is something I couldn't reconcile in Islam either. Why does Islam have punishments and "absolute" sins for everything?

But then I realized two things. The first thing is that Allah has given us all free will, albeit to an extent qualified by him. The second is that if everybody were dependent on their whims and emotions, society would plummet into chaos and anarchy. Looking at it another way, if I turn my above argument about sins around, if Allah had not given us free will over our emotions, we would not be to blame for sinning, and He, Magnanimous that He is, would not have been cruel enough to have such harsh punishments. It's only because we do have free will that we also have the ability to control our emotions and our lens of perception.

Refreshing thought? Not as much as I'd think, actually. Because now, I can't keep blaming everything I do wrong on my emotions.