Doesn't Mean It Isn't Happening

Too Often We Prefer Our Own Truth

Ever heard someone say, "I just don’t see it…."

The intention often seems to imply that a claim of truth being made isn't really true.

But, just because you don’t think you see something, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. 

I was working out recently and noticed several things on my rower-screen that I hadn't noticed before (some of it because I don't typically wear my glasses while rowing and I forgot to take them off this time — a whole other topic...).  All kinds of information was displayed, but up to that point, I had only been focusing on certain data points that I could see (or, perhaps better said, that I had been looking at).  Other data-points were there all along, I just hadn't taken the time to see them or understand what they were indicating.  I also noticed that I could change what was displayed — in other words, there were other things to see IF I wanted to.

There are reasons why we may not see things (including simply choosing not to).  But sometimes, simply the way we organize our lives allows us to only see certain things (and not other things).

Public discourse could be an example.  As with nearly any topic, it is helpful to acknowledge (if not actually know) that what we see, or understand, is often after all quite a selective function.  In some ways, we have to do this, as we just can't take the time to notice everything.  But, it takes a certain wisdom to recognize that we often are identifying the truth of reality thru a way we prefer it to be.

...which may not actually be what is true about it.  We seem quite capable of believing things that are simply untrue altogether (as our social media friends so easy reveal), not to mention the ego-centricity of effectively claiming that any view we might have is normative for everyone else.

We have to acknowledge that we are influenced (often significantly) by the information set that we most expose ourselves to on a regular basis. Not many people think completely independent thoughts (does anyone?). Almost all of our thoughts are the result of a conflation of ideas that are circulating around us and the subset of those that we are choosing to pay attention to. 

This would have to mean, then, that a lot of what we even think is a function, in fact, of what we hear. And, we are often matching what we hear with what we see, too. It really is a combination of the data that we take in and effectively process that most influences how we think and, therefore, what we see...and believe is true.

This also means that we are effectively just not using information that we select-out — that we don’t hear about, observe, or experience personally (intentionally or not).  We too often do this with history (personal and collective).  We do with our sense of the future.  Which pretty much means we're doing in the present with how we think about things, talk about them, even experience them.  And, if each of us is disposed to doing this, then we likely are imposing something on our assessments of other people's experiences.  What we call normal may not, actually, be normal for someone else.  Their normal may, in fact, be quite different.  But, that doesn't make it any less true or real.

It’s certainly not hard to imagine these days issue after issue where the impact of denialism seems to be in full swing.

What we want to see and reality can often be two different things — just because we don’t think we see something, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.

And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world.

-- John Steinbeck