As so often happens, once I've got something on my radar and I've written about it, other examples keep dropping into my consciousness.
(There's something in that, isn't there? Another story for another day, perhaps.)
Anyway, no sooner had I written about how when we're in discussion with another human being about anything, we're ‘All right and all wrong’, than this image popped up for me.
I'm almost certain you'll have seen it before, but there are levels to it:
All right
First and foremost, this singular object—raw data, in a particular shape—has two different realities for the two people. That's the obvious thing.
Neither of them is wrong. Within the reality that's being created ‘on their watch’, they're both right. They're experiencing a particular reality and that's that. Reasoning doesn't come into it: it's a 6 and it's a 9. You'll not convince either of them otherwise.
So there's that.
All different
But then let's hang on for a moment here and remind ourselves of this little fact:
This means that ‘6-ness’ and ‘9-ness’ aren't inherent characteristics of the shape itself, they're a creation of the mind, drawing on shared cultural understanding and prior experience. So if there were five people standing over on the right, looking down, there would be five different ‘9’ realities:
- Someone who hasn't been taught about numbers, just sees some meaningless lines
- An eight-year old will be obsessed with being 9
- Someone whose cat just had a scrape with death, will be aware of the significance of ‘9 lives’
- A couple exiting the cinema, having just viewed the film Nine, will have a lot to say about it (another two ‘realities’ for you there)
- Someone who's into the Enneagram, and who identifies as a ‘9’, will experience something different.
And on and on it goes. No two ‘9’s are the same.
So there's that, too.
All variable
And blow me, if there's not another layer of smoke to navigate here, because of course any of those individuals will experience a different ‘9’ again, at another point in time, because:
The ‘9’ is re-created, every time it's observed.
Take for instance, the eight-year old. That ‘9’, and all it signifies in their thought-created reality, will seem very aspirational at the age of eight, but quite probably a bit ‘baby-ish’ at the age of 10, or 11.
Or you could literally just be in a different mood one day, and the ‘9’ being created would mean something different to you. (It will do after reading this 😂)
Which means there's also that.
That, and my hurting brain.
All I've got for you
And that's it. There's nothing else to do here.
There's never anything else to do—no ‘shoulds’ (🚩)—but to be aware that this is going on, all the time, in the conscious awareness of every individual that walks this planet.
Like I say, 8+ billion separate realities, every moment.
🫠
Giles
p.s. researching this one, I learned that the number 4 is considered so unlucky in many East-Asian cultures (because its pronunciation is so similar to the word for ‘death’) that many buildings are built without a 4th floor! 😲 You can read aout ‘tetraphobia’ on Wikipedia, here.
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Giles P Croft