Perceptions: Everything and Nothing

Seeing is believing?

“…What light by yonder window breaks?  It is the east, and Juliete is the sun.”

OK, that’s enough Shakespeare for now. 

Juliet is Romeo’s sun.  What is your sun?  By what light do you see? That might be a silly question; we all see by the same light, right?  Well then, why do we see such different things? What does a “liberal” see, that a “conservative” does not, and vice versa?

They say that we all have the right to our own opinion, but not to our own facts. Sounds good in theory, but as Paul Simon says, “All lies in jest, still a man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest.”

And as I say, “We do not see, we perceive.”

Following is a poem I wrote a while back, which contemplates by what light we see, and what it illuminates. And what remains in the shadows…

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THE LIGHT

The light.

The light by which we see.

Shall we see by the harsh, bright light of the sun,

Or shall we see by the soft reflected light of the moon?

The moon.

The moon provides the soft shadows

In which we hide

That which we do not care to see.

Do we need that full light of sun?

The sun.

The sun illuminates all, leaves us with scant shadows,

Shows us that which we would not see

Every bit as brightly as that which we seek.

How shall we differentiate?  Can we see all, and

Not be confused?  Must we see all?

We are human, not gods!

Let us see that which we seek, by the soft, shifting

Light of the moon. Let us see by

That soft reflection of the sun’s harsh

Light. 

The light.

The light can be blinding.

Stare not directly at

The sun.  It will blind you.

See by the moon’s soft, suggestive light.

Shadows can be whatever

You want them to be.  See only what you want

To see. 

Is that shadow moving?

Did I see it move!?  No, an illusion.

No!  I saw it move!

Is it my friend? My enemy?  It is what I choose. 

Ah, the sweet, soft light of the moon.

I see, not what is real, but what is in

My mind.  I am my own light.

I will see that which I choose to see.

The light.

The light by which we see. 

Give me the moon,

The sweet, sweet moon.

From it, the soft reflected light,

Which illuminates only that which I wish to see.

And hides the rest.

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