Willful Blindness
Choosing not to see.
When the magician produces the coin out of midair, or the rabbit out of the hat, or saws the lady in half and then puts her back together to be able to walk and talk as before, they are all tricks of the eye. They all have to do with what is not seen by the audience.
What appears to be magic is simply perspective. Everything looks amazing when viewed from a certain preselected position.
At the level of entertainment these tricks are fun.
When it comes to manipulating reality, however, those who willfully distort truth to trick people into giving up their bank account information or purchasing an unsafe car, do so because they themselves have a false belief about how the universe works. They have bought into the oldest of lies that there either is no God, therefore no justice, or that God is impotent and therefore the spoils will always go to the clever and heartless few.
So far, however, I believe I have addressed the fewest in number with perception problems — the audience in a magic show and con artists.
By far those suffering from the inability to see accurately are those who choose not to.
What do I mean?
How many times have we heard or spoke the statement, “I’ll believe it when I see it!”?
As I have already explained, this isn’t how sight actually works. We don’t ever see everything we look at. We choose what to focus on within the field of vision in front of us.
My Operating System
This idea about perception helps me understand that to see I must first have a depth of understanding about how life works at the level of fundamental beliefs.
I will see it when I believe it.
This is my operating system. And it is more than believing I will see something. It is believing that even if I don’t, there is a right and good way to walk through life. It is choosing to keep my eyes open to the needs within and around me and to live as if everything I say, do, and think are being watched and recorded. I may not see, but I am always seen.
If I do this hopefully I will avoid Willful Blindness — the decision not to see because to do so would cost me something I choose to value more than truth.
That’s the worst kind of blindness there is.
PS. After writing this piece I heard a congressman make an interesting statement at a press conference. It had to do with public loss of confidence with some government institutions.
He stated that perception is reality to the beholder.
In other words, if someone is doing the right thing but it is perceived by the public as being the wrong thing, there is only one solution and that is transparency.
Only by full disclosure and allowing people to see and understand from all angles can trust ever possibly be restored.
Something to think about.