 |
| Here's a hint: Not like this. |
"Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change."
Wayne W. Dyer
Are you ready to have your mind thrown into the razor sharp blender of epiphany?
Because yes, it is possible to bend time and space, and can be learned in the time it takes to read this article.
It works on this simple concept, used by spiritual leaders, cognitive behavioral psychologists, magicians, and people who live in padded rooms.
Consider this. Every single thing we perceive is done so through the perceptual apparatus that is our body. Take vision for example. When light photons from the sun strike objects on earth, the reflected light is absorbed through our eyes and then interpreted by our brains into meaningful symbols, shapes, and colours. The colour blue doesn’t really exist. We merely create that colour because the light refracts a certain way on a surface creating a specific hue, which many of us have arbitrarily named "blue". An individual who is colour blind may not see the same colour as you. This is because their brain perceives a different hue. Even another person who agrees that it is blue, will create a subtly different version of that same blue. The same goes for sound, touch, and taste. We hear things differently, feel things at different levels of sensitivity, and certainly have varying taste pallets!
We also do this conceptually. Your new expensive shoes may be valuable to you and worth protecting, but to your dog it’s really just a fancy chew toy. The purpose of labeling and compartmentalizing things is to make it easier for us to use them. I mean, it really isn’t practical to have a metaphysical crisis every time you need to put on your shoes. But essentially the meaning of the object is still fabricated within our own mind and doesn’t exist as an absolute reality.
"Beauty is no quality in things themselves: It exists merely in the mind which contemplates them; and each mind perceives a different beauty."
David Hume
The world as we see it is just that. The world as WE see it, not how anyone else sees it. We create our own universe. Literally. What we are doing is living in our own little bubble of perception where everything and everybody around us is merely a figment of our imagination.
There you go.
Mind.
Officially.
Blown.
"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
Edgar Allan Poe
Given this, there are obviously things that happen in the world that are beyond our control. If a meteor were to hit you, you wouldn’t be able to mind control it away or wish it to be gone and still be alive to enjoy a meteor-free existence (as far as I know!). However, what we do control is how we react to these events. People who often lack this control are the mentally ill. Through mechanisms that are often beyond their control, their mind creates a reality reflecting their depression, paranoia, anxiety, or fear, making their personal universe a very scary place. Conversely, there are those who view any situation as an opportunity, see the bright side of any circumstance, and constantly have positive thoughts. Most of us fall somewhere in the middle.
"The optimist sees the donut, the pessimist sees the hole."
Oscar Wilde
Although this metaphysical quandary may at first seem nebulous and of little use to mere mortals, there is indeed a practical application.
Time and space is relative and can be controlled. As a species we're just not very good at doing it yet. Time can pass quickly when one is having fun, and can drudge on slowly when things are tedious. A small room can seem comparatively vast and spacious after being locked in a box for a few hours.
"Reality can be beaten with enough imagination."
Mark Twain
Time and space can be anything that makes up our perception of the world; that makes up our personal universe. Realizing this, we can try to perceive things as they are, dropping expectations and pre-conceptions. Try to bend your own time and space, and see what happens. I tried and these were my thoughts.
Jealousy became Reverence.
Hate became Compassion.
Fear was Courage Unborn.
Annoyance became the Practice of Patience.
Speaking was conquered by Listening.
Sadness, the reflection of Happiness.
And Despair became Hope.
Our most basic freedoms can be taken away. However, what we will always have freedom over is how we perceive the world.
So…
Are you bending time and space yet?
