One thing we are not taught in school is how to see. Most of us have eyes that are biologically designed to view the world through colour, clarity and depth. Sometimes we might even use an aid to restore our vision so we could see the world like everyone else, and of course, navigate the world through this very dependant sense. However, reflecting light from the physical world is only one part of seeing, the second and more important is perceiving. Our conscious minds have evolved to be so complex that perceiving the physical world objectively is close to impossible, at least at first glance.
Our minds are natural time-travellers and story-tellers; we use these skills to see. Unlike animals, who cannot see beyond their physical life experience, we could see from experiences of people we have never met and explore creative ideas that never existed. We could travel to collective memories of the past and visions of the future to see the world in limitless ways. This is all done through stories. An infinity of stories are told everyday that account for every need, desire or struggle we experience within this world. Astonishingly, stories of fact or fiction are irrelevant when we perceive because we see the world through both an objective and subjective reality. We see it both from the physical world expressed by fact and from stories expressed by emotions. As such, the world is seen by each person in a completely different way based on their physical and mentally perceived experiences. Take for example a handmade mug; show it to 20 people and each person will have a different story to tell about its physical or emotional properties. Although we each have a unique way of seeing the world, the stories we have in common offer us connection and a grounding of values. It is why we gravitate towards people who see the world most like we do.
Seeing subjectively through emotions could take us far away from reality. Humans have the ability to attach emotion to objects, people, places, thoughts and experiences. These subjects in storytelling make it easy to relate to the emotions and chemistry that our bodies are seeking to understand. However, Instincts have been so abstracted through evolution that the mere need for 'shelter' could now be reflected as a mansion filled with hundreds of inanimate objects that serve no purpose other than to bring life to a story. Stories are beautiful and necessary, but sometimes they could take us far away from the reality of the physical world. Although a purely objective world does not exists, a balance between physical and emotional seeing is necessary for a healthy world view.
But if the physical is around us, aren't we seeing just as equally physically as emotionally? Most of the time no, but we can if we learn how to. Through emotions, at the top of the subjective spectrum, we could easily travel to a different part of the world by looking at a picture, or back in time through the stories of a grandmother, or into the future through a sci-fi movie. Although all subjects of the stories are real, and many use true facts, the end result is a delicately woven emotional blanket. Here is also the place for creativity without limits, a place that does not require the physical world at all. In the objective world, through facts, we also tell stories. However, these stories are a little more difficult to put together, and sometimes only have a few pieces. This makes them difficult to see, hard to understand, and requires effort to learn the knowledge necessary to put the whole story together. This is a place for pure physical observation of the world and where science is used to prove all truths. Although we use facts to learn about truths of our universe, they are meaningless to most and usually boring on their own. Because of this there aren't very many factual stories that are shared, and of the stories that are available, access is limited. Thankfully there is the middle ground!
Seeing in balance means seeing stories from both ends of the spectrum. This does not mean having to read all the stories all the time, it means seeing that there is a story present and available for viewing from both the physical and emotional. Take again the mug for example, our standard of seeing offers us the present physical observation (shape, colour, use etc), and emotional observations (comfort, need, beauty etc) which instantly, often subconsciously, attach to already existing emotional stories. Unfortunately, one very important story that is often missed at first glance is the physical story of creation. Where did the materials come from? Where was it made? Who made it? How far did it travel? Everything physical and observable on Earth has a story of creation and death, including humanity, but it is very difficult to see at first glance as it requires knowledge or wisdom. Luckily, so much knowledge is readily available to create most pages of all the physical stories on Earth. But why is seeing these stories so important? And why don't we see them?
An unseen story is still a story that makes up our reality. All physical stories of creation exist whether we observe them or not. However, our evolution has made many of our stories so complex and heavy to read that they often go ignored. Does the mug in your home hold the story of a makers suffering, or does it hold the story of a maker with passion? What are all the other hundreds of stories playing in your home that make up your world? Seeing in balance could help us bring awareness to the stories of truth and offer understanding of our reality. Naturally, emotional stories are very potent, and connecting physical stories to existing emotional ideas becomes extremely challenging. A middle sight makes this process easier; a fact on its own is boring and meaningless, but a chain of facts with emotional glue creates a story that is beautiful.
How to train our minds to see in balance. We see our physical word in the present and through time-traveling emotion. Emotionally time-travel is easy, but through factual knowledge it is not. By introducing time-travel to our physical sight, we could learn to see in balance. This means seeing physical stories of creation and physical stories of death. This does not mean having all the knowledge in the world to see the world in balance, it means opening our eyes to at least one single word of each physical story for the past and future. Where did I get this mug? What will I do with it when it breaks? Over time, we learn to travel further into the past and future, and the knowledge base overlaps to reflect common facts in many things we see. At first, emotions will fill in gaps to the stories that are seen, but with time we start to see sentences, pages and even full books of creation or death in everything that is looked at. Why is this important?
Seeing balanced gives us control over our own reality. Everything we buy, everywhere we go, and everything we do has meaning and shapes our reality. Seeing in balance enables us to make decisions that are rooted both in the physical and emotional world. Most physical truths are covered up by emotional stories from the media, family, friends and businesses, which makes it extremely difficult to make informed decisions. By training to see balanced, we learn to see outside of the emotional stories, beyond immediate physical surroundings and find meaning in stories from every part of the world.
"In the end, seeing in balance is seeing sustainably."
