“How did that happen?”
“Dunno. Time does stuff like that.”
“Behind your back?”
“Yep.”
“That’s a bugger.”
“… and you don’t even notice…”
A friend paid me the compliment the other day of asking if I had reached fifty yet. My son almost immediately disposed of any lingering glow in which I might possibly have been basking, with his utterly horrified expression when he asked to be reminded of my age.
I remember, vividly, being so young I thought my mother ancient when she reached thirty! Yet at the age I was then some cultures would have had me married already with babies of my own, having already crossed the technical threshold into womanhood.
Thirty seems very young from here. It would now, my younger son is heading that way.
It is odd, really, how perception changes with perspective. And again, most of the time you don’t even notice. The change just creeps up on you as life, knowledge and personal evolution shift the parameters of perception.
It is a subject that is coming up more and more frequently recently. Because we see what we expect to see… even if it is not there… creating around us a reality that is personal to the filters we apply to it. Sometimes we see the things we want to see…delighting in the illusion until we see it for what it is and suffer the inevitable pangs of loss. Sometimes we see only what we fear. Sometimes we see only a fragment and focus on it out of context, losing ourselves in erroneous conclusions, suppositions and even venom. Much heartache is born this way.
One of the early student exercises with the Silent Eye is designed simply to show how much we assume we know about something… when in fact we may know very little about it in truth. If we take time to look, really look at the world around us, we find we are doing that all the time. Like the picture at the top of the page. We perceive only what we expect… what we have already, perhaps, at some level accepted.
… and I had a whole article lurking in my mind on the subject…. Then a friend showed me something from artist Kostas Kiriakakis… do click the link and have a look. Sheer genius.
It sort of said it all really, in a far more graphic form than I ever could… and the illustrations are amazing. Click the link or the picture to read the comic strip…
Images from Kiriakakis ‘A day in the park’
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Oh my goodness, I could read this lickety spit. There goes trying to pretend I am normal.
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Normal is overrated 😉
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So could I
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Well that explains why I miss so many of my own typos. 🙂
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Same here 🙂
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Reblogged this on 307.
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That first bit …. the mixed words … well, easy read and quick too. I was surprised by how quickly my mind whizzed through it – started in my WP reader and opened the post.
And quiet rightly, part of aging and wisdom in understanding is that “aha” moment, when you really appreciate the scope of “I really know nothing about much of anything” – and when the shock of that wears off, and you see the cosmic humour in this, then you can settle down and begin to accept everything more easily, from a more “oneness” inclusive experience, while still celebrating the wealth and inherent beauty of diversity, in all its forms. 🙂
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oh, and I forgot to say, just because I could read that bit with ease, certainly doesn’t mean I think I’m of a “great mind” – the human brain is filled with such complexity and mystery, that it’s best left to its own means and devices …. and the comic strip? it was delightful reading 🙂
Have a wonderful weekend Sue 🙂
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The comic strip is a thought provoking read, isn’t it? 🙂
No, I don’t think there is anything particularly amazing about being able to read that first pic…except the human mind’s utterly amazing abilities all round 🙂
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I’ll bet everyone can read it. Enjoy that!
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I would think most people can…and that is amazing in itself really 🙂
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I certainly hope that answers — facts, truth, reality — continue to get a seat at the table. The alternative is appalling.
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We won’t get them unless we dare to ask the questions though 😉
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Perhaps it’s because we recognise the letters in the word. (consciously or unconsciously) I doubt if someone who had an incomplete understanding of the English language would do as well.
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Possibly not.. but even so, the mind is an amazing thing 🙂
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Read the scambled part easily which proves…? Certainly shows how easy it is to miss typos when proof reading!
Loved the cartoon – very thought provoking.
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I probably only wrote this to share the cartoon, Mary…which I loved, both for the artist’s weird imagination and the actual content.
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I could ready the first part pretty easily, but then i am so used to reading my own stuff which is always full of typos!
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So is mine…in spite of every check I run 🙂
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I am such a dunce, as reading this I see I have done it in the comment with the extra ‘y’!!!
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LOl… you wouldn’t believe how often I have typos in comments 😉
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Glad it is not just me!!! 🙂
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🙂
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I guess I’m strange. No problem reading, even though it could use a good editor, lol. 🙂
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Strange is good 🙂
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🙂
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