What You Think You see
Your eyes simply receive photons (clusters of light). These photons pass through your lens and are then refracted and focused on the retina. These are then converted into electrical signals, and transmitted, via neurons to the back of the brain, which then interprets (based on your own collective experiences, and what you have accepted as true, from what you have been taught) what you are seeing.
In other words, you are imagining, what you are seeing.
The area at the back of your brain, that interprets these signals is in total darkness, and has never actually been exposed to any light. Thus the light that you think that you're seeing, is actually being interpreted, in an area that is not being illuminated by the light.
Everything that you believe the external world to be, is the result of your brain interpreting electrical signals.
The movie "The Matrix" really nailed this point, but this was lost on many, who saw it simply as entertainment.
You literally could be lying in one of those pods, like Neo was, right now, being fed electrical signals, and you wouldn't know the difference.
When you reach out and touch the table in front of you, how do you know that it's real?
Electrical signals again.
Stop for a moment, and think about that.
Let it sink in.
Absolutely everything that you think the external world to be; what you see, hear, smell, taste and touch, is literally all in your head.
Now this is where it gets interesting.
Just like any form of interpretation, or decipherment, there needs to be a frame of reference.
What is your personal frame of reference, and where did you obtain it?
Some people believe that the world we live on is a globe, spinning at 1,000 mph, surrounded by a vast cosmos of other spinning balls.
Some people believe that we live on a stationary disc, enclosed within a dome and that there is no "outer space".
Can both of these conflicting realities exist, simultaneously?
Who controls what children are being given as a frame of reference from the youngest age possible, where they start to form the foundations of their beliefs?
Where does the vast majority of this conditioning come from?
School? TV? Peers?
and who controls this content, that you're forming your beliefs from?
Now, this will really fuck with your head.
Considering how unique each of our lives are, what are the chances that 10 different people, will have the same data on their individual hard drives, their collective experiences, from which the brain gathers its frame of reference, to interpret these electrical signals?
For example, if 10 different people all watched me on one of my vlogs, are they all seeing me the same way? and if they were to compare notes, so to speak, how could they determine, without a shared frame of reference, whether they were or not?
So considering all of the above, wouldn't this only be possible, if we were all being fed the same electrical signals?
Are you awake right now? Or asleep?
How can you be sure?
How much of what you "believe" is based on personal observation, and how much have you accepted as an axiom, at some earlier point, that you haven't questioned, or recently reviewed?
The good news here, is that if you take disciplined control of your thought processes, thus changing your frame of reference, then the external world that you perceive, will change as a result.
So, are you living your ideal life?
Are there some things that you wish were different about the world?
Well, you have within you, the power to make these changes.
Peace.
To me this post was nothing new since I enjoy popular science but I felt the importance of it simply because people surprisingly rarely think about how their bodies function. While conciousness as a phenomenon still remains a mystery for science, it's good to start with simple things that can and should be explained. For instance, parents often tell their kids the grass is green because of chlorophyll within it but it doesn't answer the question. And the answer to the question is that the light coming from the sun isn't really white, but it's a combination of different wavelenghts (the rainbow) we perceive as white since our brain is calibrated this way. And as the green wavelegth carries the least amount of energy for plants, they simply reflect it, so we see them in green. And Bob, I could go on forever, some of these things never stop to amaze me, I'm a huge fan of Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson. The most mindblowing discovery as of late for me was the Novosibirsk project of domesticating the red fox which revealed how selective breeding affects the very mindset of animals, their fur colour and skeleton and the results of domestication are always the same. Look it up, it's crazy interesting.
Hi @beyonder, thanks for stopping by again, yes, i totally agree with you. When i chill with my friends, this is exactly the type of conversations that we have.
When steem reaches the $100 mark, I want to travel the world and meet some steemians in coffee shops around the world. You are one of those :)
Peace.
@bobaphet
Woo!!!! You just changed the way I actually see, now I will think of photons more on everything I see.. hehe..
Nyways nice explaination
Thanks, are you sure, that's what you see, or do you just think that that's what you see ;)
Peace.
From time to time I am thinking of this too even though I am not a physician or philosophy prof.
But now with your article in mind, Ifeel like one myself :D
Thanks for sharing this !
Thanks man, this kind of thing is what gets me excited :)
Peace.
Yup. I think like this from time to time. Then I have a beer and watch the football and then everything is fine!
Have you seen Britney's new outfit?
Peace.
ah ha! howdy there @bobaphet! this is very interesting. much of what we think we are seeing is the result of our previous experiences and recollections. I think that's why the post that I did on optical illusions were so baffling..because it confused our brains and our perceptions were not lining up to what we thought we knew?
Yes, you're post was awesome, I really love that stuff :)
Peace.
thank you sir and your post was awesome but it makes us question everything! is it real or does our brain just think it's real?? lol
Answers are a dime a dozen.
Good questions, are priceless :)
Peace.
lol! yes indeed. hey @bobaphet let me ask you another question if I may.
Many people on Steemit have said that once you hit a rep of 60 then it gets
easier as far as growing, the rate of growth is slower as far as adding rep numbers
but it's easier to grow followers because people seek out those who are at 60
and above, have you experienced any difference like that since you reached 60?
Yes, I've always heard the same thing too, but I think it's too early to tell yet.
It seemed to take for ever to get from 59-60, and I'm still working towards 61.
Peace.
well sir I'm rooting for you and will be able to support you a lot more when I get a decent pile of SP and get my rep number up there.
Wow spinout time :)
On your next fungi hunt, grab some of the golden topped ones and I'll show you how deep the rabbit hole goes :)
Peace.
Haha :)
Hey @bobaphet, I am a curator of the Whaleshares Curation Team. I have selected your post to be presented in a live curation discussion on Monday 02nd July. Your post will be awarded a 100 Whaleshares vote on the night. I do hope you can come along and spectate. The event will be held in The Curation Lounge on the Whaleshares server. Here is a link to a post explaining things: https://steemit.com/competition/@nikflossus/the-34th-whaleshares-curation-show-learn-about-eosbits-from-krazykrista-and-how-to-get-some-for-free
Hi @breezin, Thank you for this, this is exciting as for me :)
Unfortunately, 2300 UTC is 0900 Tuesday here in Melbourne Australia, and I will be at work.
Is the event recorded, or is there some way that I can catch-up on how it went, afterwards?
Peace.
That is a pitty and sadly it is not recorded, but the audience really responded great to your post and I am hoping that they show it some love x
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Thank you :)
Peace.
Awesome stuff
Thank you, glad you enjoyed :)
Peace.