If there was ever clearer evidence that we are all walking around in our own little thought-created ‘realities’—the experiences of which are real, but not true—it's in visual illusions.
How it's all ‘made up’
Our senses are bathed in fluctuating energy and they have to build a picture of reality for us, so that we can function in this world. This means our psychological-perceptual system is always asking the question:
“What must be true, within the rules I’ve evolved, for me to be receiving this particular set of data?”
And that’s what we get: a teeny, tiny little portion of that infinite life-energy, filtered through those evolved rules – a ‘rule-shaped aperture’, if you like.
So it’s not reality itself, it’s more like a map of it. (Nobody knows what actual reality looks like… maybe those folks who’ve had near death experiences, I dunno 🤷🏻♂️)
It’s a bit bonkers, because it really seems like we’re all wandering around with big windows on the fronts of our faces, viewing an objective reality, not some electro-chemically induced apparition that we think is true.
🥴
Visual illusions make that inconvenient truth a bit more obvious, or in the case of the video I made below, smacked-round-the-side-of-the-head obvious! Our psychological-perceptual system, while complex beyond measure, is actually remarkably easy to trick, just by breaking one of its inbuilt rules.
Have a watch and try not to be freaked out too much because I can state categorically, those heads are NOT moving!! 😵💫
Enjoy the ride!
👀 🐉 👀 🐉
How crazy is that?! 🤯
A peek behind the curtain
This little dragon (he’s called Thinky) is very easy to recreate for yourself – it's just a paper cut out that's stuck together. (I’ve attached the template to download as a PDF below; the perfect way to get creative for an hour.)
And if you look at this image, you'll see how this primitive illusion tricks your mind. It's unusual in that, while the base is a standard pyramid shape, the face portion is concave (i.e. curved inwards):
Our brains however, have evolved to perceive faces as only ever being convex (curved outwards) – that’s the rule it’s applying. So when we look at the dragon and we move our perspective around, the algorithmic mind asks its usual question:
“What must be true, within the rules I’ve evolved, for me to be receiving this particular set of data?”
…and since—within its rules—it doesn’t make sense that bits of the face that should now be out of sight (because they're technically ‘round the corner’), are still visible, it makes something up.
It says,
📦🗣️: “Oh, the head must be moving!”
And that's the ‘reality’ we experience. It’s not something you can tell your mind to see differently (there's no denying the head moves, even when I've shown you how the trick works) but, as we can now see, it's very obviously not true.
(Honestly, if you’ve been struggling with this notion of ‘real-and-not-true’, Thinky the dragon is the best demonstration I’ve ever come across!)
What has this got to do with wellbeing?
Well, it's not just moving-head dragons that are created from within our psychological-perceptual system, is it?
It's 100% of the human experience.
And the key here is the rules our Thought Systems 📦 are applying. Because sure, there are evolved human rules (such as all-faces-must-be-convex).
But then how many other innocent ‘rules’—or beliefs—have gathered in that dusty old Thought System of ours, over the years, from our teachers, our parents, the media, society in general; and from experiences we've had when younger?
(The fact that you and I and everybody you know see the world differently, is evidence that it's a LOT!)
The power in knowing
Visual illusions that are as good as this one make it way more obvious that 100% of our felt experience of life is coming from thought in the moment.
This means every feeling you've ever had and every feeling you ever will have comes to you as a product not of your environment, but of that inner, perceptual world; of the mind essentially asking,
“What must be true, given all the cruft I've collected over the years, for me to be receiving this particular set of data?”
There's immense power in knowing this, because it also means you can't ever be a victim of circumstance, only ever a ‘victim’ of thought… or of misunderstanding, to be more accurate.
And what should you do about this?
Nothing.
Be with whatever feeling you're experiencing, fully, safe in the knowledge that it's simply a reflection of thought, that it can't harm you and that fresh new thinking is always just around the corner.
It's a beautifully designed system – enjoy the ride!
💟
Giles
Make your own
Here's a link to download the PDF template to fashion your own Thinky the 3D Dragon, to wow your friends with. (If you've been looking for a ‘way in’ to talk about the Innate Health understanding with them, this is a great conversation starter!)
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