A Miracle A Day

Perception… reality passed through internal filters, formed by one of three methods, and on into your conscious awareness.  Your perception of reality is all that really counts, when it comes to making choices.  There is no way to distinguish your current perception of reality from reality itself, but you CAN change your filters and then re-evaluate reality, possibly changing your perceptions.

Now you know that you have all these internal filters affecting every part of your life, because they affect how you see every part of your life.  And you even know how they are formed and how they can be either strengthened or weakened.  But how do you become aware of what filters you currently have in place?

The first, and easiest, method of becoming aware of your filters is to look at a situation from another perspective.  That is, imagine how someone else would see it.  If it's different than how you see it, you can look at the differences and begin to see your filters.  For instance, let's say you are looking for a house and you come across one that's in relatively good shape, but it's a bit run down.  Now you might see this as a sign that the previous owner didn't take care of it, and you'll want to look for another house.  But another person might look at it and see an opportunity to fix it and get the satisfaction of doing something worthwhile, as well as imprinting their own tastes.  The differences, such as one seeing it as a negative while the other sees it as a positive, shows you a little of the filters you're applying to that situation.

If you want to use this method to find your filters, then it is best to try to find as many different circumstances where you can apply the technique as possible.  Even situations that don't appear related can often be passing through the same filter.  Buying a car and buying a house, for example, both generally pass through a "value for the money" filter… although if the cost is insignificant enough compared to your income, it may NOT pass through that filter.  Your filters will become clearer (and more optional… a filter you're aware of has less power than one you apply subconsciously) as you try this process in more and more situations.

Another way of becoming more aware of your filters is to simply imagine a situation, and try to picture as many different possible ways to approach the situation as you're capable of doing.  This has the benefit of not being immediately involved in the situation, which removes some of the pressure, and gives you time to work out what your filters are in peace.  It also lets you try to find filters in situations that are not common, like buying a house… for most people, it's not something you do all that often, although some real estate investors do it regularly.

This second way has a disadvantage, though, in that it's more difficult to picture how you would REALLY react in a given situation than it is to determine from actually being in that situation.  This means that you can give yourself a false picture of your filters, although if you are honest with yourself, this shouldn't be too much of an issue, as it normally occurs when you try to deny something about yourself (like "I wouldn't lie" or "I would definitely give money to that cause" or that sort of thing… trying to convince yourself that you are a "better" person… what makes someone a "better" person is an article all to itself).  It's just something to be aware of, not something to particularly concern yourself with… just be honest, it's not like anyone else can see what you are imagining.

The third, and most difficult, way to find your filters is to find a quiet place where you can be alone (which, if you're a parent, can be difficult all by itself!) and choose a topic.  The topic can be as general or as specific as you wish.  When you have your topic selected, close your eyes (to eliminate visual distractions) and just let yourself consider your filters for the chosen area.  If you are really trying, at least a few of the filters closest to the surface should come to your attention.  After all, those filters belong to the subconscious, and the subconscious does the conscious mind's bidding when given direct, clear orders.

If you repeat this third technique over time, on the same topic, you are likely to find deeper and deeper filters coming up, some of which are likely deep enough that you had no idea they were there.  As in the previous techniques, there is some bleed from topic to topic, too.  You may have a "fear of failure" filter which very nearly everything processes through, or you may have a "fear of being alone" filter that situations dealing with those you are close to hurting you pass through.  Some filters, on the other hand, may be as specific as "mail that comes from Delaware has to do with banking/credit cards"… that one's from personal experience.

Regardless of how specific or general a filter is, one thing holds true:  A filter loses much of its power when you become aware of its presence.  That means that you will be much more free, much more able to see more of the possibilities in a situation as you become aware of more of your filters.  You will also find the ability to create, change, or discard filters grows with your general awareness of their existence, and obviously you cannot choose to change or discard a specific filter if you are not aware of it.

So, that's it for this article… a little more detail on creating, changing, and discarding filters in the next.

Articles In This Series:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Perception is how you understand reality after it has passed through all your internal filters.  You can change those filters, but first you must become aware of what they are, how they are formed and strengthened, and what role those around you play in this process.

So you want to change the filters through which life around you passes before coming into your conscious mind?  Be warned, the process is not instant, nor is it necessarily easy or without pain.  Some of the filters you have will be buried so deep that it can take years to change them significantly, let alone actually remove them, if that's what you want.  Even the shallow ones often take weeks to change or remove.  Be prepared, then, for this to take quite some time… but if you stick with it, it can change your life completely.

If you're still with me, then you're interested in positive change, in spite of the effort, and possibly pain, involved.  The first step in your process is to understand how filters are formed.  There are three major sources of filters:  people you associate with (they don't have to be friends, just people you are around frequently), your own experiences, and "third-party" information (things you read or see).  Each of these sources imparts filters of varying strengths and complexity, depending on factors within the category.

When you pick up filters from people you associate with, the strength and depth of the filter is strongly affected by the amount of time you spend with that person, and more lightly by how you feel about that person.  There is also a factor involving how much of an authority you consider the person, especially in regards to the specific area of the filter.  So a co-worker you don't like but spend hours with each day can affect you more deeply than an old friend that you see once a year, but a friend you see a few times a week may have more influence than a coworker you see five days a week, while someone that you see rarely, but consider an authority on the area of life in question can have a profound effect on your filters.  Parents and spouses tend to be the strongest influences of this type, with parents having an advantage due to the fact that there are no competing/conflicting filters when you spend so much time with them, and the fact that when you are young, you consider them to be an authority on almost everything.

You also build up filters from your own experiences as you live life.  If you have been bitten by dogs a few times, you will form a filter that looks for that type of behavior from at least the type of dog that bit you, if not dogs in general.  With this type of filter formation, the amount the event catches your attention, whether via mental involvement, emotions, or pain/pleasure, is the primary factor in how strong and deep the filter is, with repetition of the event (or of similar events) strengthening and deepening the filter, and conflicting events weakening it.  The strengthening effect of similar events is considerably stronger than the weakening effect of conflicting events, unless the conflicting event is of considerable significance.

Filters formed from third-party sources tend to be the weakest of the three types.  They generally have less "authority" than people you know, and certainly less than your own experience.  However, in areas that you don't have any personal experience or particular input from someone you know, such as when you're learning about a new hobby that you don't know anyone who shares, your filters will generally be formed from what you read about it.  Third-party sources can also extend and expand already existing filters, especially if they generally agree with your existing filters, just adding a bit more detail.

Once a filter is formed from one of these sources, it can also be strengthened by any of the above sources (it doesn't have to be the same one).  For instance, your parents may tell you to be wary of strangers, causing you to form a filter that causes you to be cautious when meeting someone new.  This can then be strengthened by personal experience, if a stranger does something to you that you don't like, or particularly if you have several bad experiences with strangers.  The filter can then be further strengthened by reading/listening/viewing the news and learning about random murders and kidnappings.

A filter can also be weakened by any of these sources, but it is much harder to weaken a filter than to strengthen it.  It is easier to accept reinforcement of your already held filters, opinions, and beliefs than it is to accept contradictory information.  This is true of all people, though noticeably stronger in some than in others, often referred to as being closed-minded or open-minded.

So now, in order to keep this post from getting ridiculously long, I will push how to become aware of your specific filters and how to change them to another post.

Articles In This Series:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

Perception is your interpretation of reality, based on where you are standing in space and time, and processed through all of your filters and biases*.  Unfortunately, or actually perhaps fortunately, there is no way to avoid this, and there is no way to base your choices on reality.

You cannot, as a human being, consciously comprehend reality.  Instead, your  consciousness is presented with an interpretation of reality, filtered by your subconsciousness from the input received by all your senses.  This interpretation is what you must use to make your choices.  If you were standing directly in front of the building pictured above, you would be forced (assuming no prior knowledge) to make any choices based on it being three stories tall.  If you were to move to the side, however, your perception changes, and with it the basis for your decisions.

There is no way to avoid this.  You can only work with what your senses feed your subconscious, and out of that, only what it passes on to your conscious mind.  This is probably fortunate, as the sheer vastness of the amount of information contained by reality would likely overwhelm your conscious mind in seconds.  Unfortunately, however, it does mean that your choices may be based on a falsehood, as any bias you have is automatically inserted before you ever have a chance to consider anything else.

This doesn't mean that your subconscious mind rejects anything that doesn't match your bias, or that you can't perceive contrary information.  It simply means things are "colored" by your biases, beliefs, and other such filters.  That is, if you are "biased" against spiders, when you see one in the corner, you may see something dark and scary, and may even perceive it to be larger than it actually is.  On the other hand, if you have no such bias, you may see a harmless critter (or, with other biases, see a life worth carefully preserving, something to add to your bug collection, or something else entirely). 

Other things that you might not think of fall into this category of biases and filters, as well.  You can have a bias for or against financial opportunities… meaning that you either filter them out, or give them special attention.  Your taste in music, art, and humor are all biases as well.  All communication passes through your filters, which may be different between "groups" of people (like lawyers, doctors, politicians, preachers, or even as general as men vs women) as well as between individuals. 

For example, consider the phrase "I love you."  The source of the phrase makes a huge amount of difference in how you interpret it, as it passes through your filters for that individual and whatever classes you associate them with.  If your wife says it, it passes through filters associated with her, meaning you perceive it differently than if, say, a stranger said it to you.  With your wife, it might make you feel a little closer (or want to be closer, which is not the same), it might make you feel the love you have for her, or if you're having marital problems, it might make you think of those problems.  With a stranger, it's likely to creep you out, make you want to push them away (emotionally/mentally at the very least… depending on how close they are, it might make you want to do it physically, too), and bring all kinds of other negative things to mind, as well, although this depends greatly on the groups you associate that stranger with.  Think about the difference in how you would react if a beautiful woman said that to you, compared to an ugly woman, an effeminate appearing man, or a biker in full tattoos and leather.

Fortunately, your conscious mind IS capable of reviewing its filters and biases, and so you can change the way you perceive information from the world around you.  It's not always easy to do so, but you can do it.   You can choose to change, remove, or add filters, but first you have to learn to become aware of them first.  My next article will deal with how to do this, how to become aware, and from there how to choose which filters you want.

*  These filters and biases mentioned in the article are what I call patterns elsewhere on the site.  The speed and accuracy with which these filters are applied is what most people call intelligence.

Articles In This Series:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4