Navigating the Sea of Perception
How do we cultivate calm in a chaotic world?
Every day that we are alive, we are faced with a vast and complex sea of perception. We have so many ways of responding to the never-ending currents within this sea of perception that it can be very easy to feel overwhelmed. When we feel overwhelmed, it can be very easy to shut off our minds, ignore as much perception as we can, and hide like a turtle in the safety and comfort of our shell.
There is certainly nothing wrong with being safe and comfortable like a turtle in its shell. But sometimes avoiding our external perceptions can cause detachment from our daily reality and from other people that can itself become problematic. So, we re-emerge from our shell and re-enter the currents in the sea of perception.
We often find that we cannot understand or respond to what is happening around us and to us. We realize that we are unable to understand or respond effectively. To remedy this problem, we start to think harder, and harder, and harder. We strain our minds. Our perception becomes increasingly whittled down to a very narrow pinpoint of light that only illuminates a very small portion of our perception — and because of the narrowing of our perception we paradoxically are less likely to understand and respond effectively to the currents in the sea of perception.
We can also strain with our actions. We are faced with a task, and our first attempt fails. In our minds, we feel a slight increase in our frustration level. We try the task again, this time exerting more effort. The task fails again. Now we are starting to get really frustrated. We try a third time, and we fail yet again. The process continues, we strain harder, we grasp harder to successfully complete the task. We want to do it “right.” But paradoxically, the harder we try and fail, the more frustrated or angry we get, and the likelihood that we will complete the task successfully decreases with each unsuccessful attempt.
There is a story of a chimpanzee who was kept in a science research facility for observation and study, so that human scientists could try to learn more about his behaviors and to discern his thinking processes. The chimpanzee was placed in a large enclosure that had numerous boxes and other large furniture items on which he could sit or recline. Above the chimpanzee, just out of his reach, was a batch of bananas — that classical staple of chimpanzee cuisine. The chimpanzee noticed the bananas, peered up at them, evaluated their distance from the ground, and realized that he cannot reach them. Nevertheless, he tried. He walked over to the wall under which the bananas sat on a small ledge. He examined the wall. He reached upward to the full extent of his arms. He even tested the wall with his hands and feet to see if he could climb the wall. Next, he gathered himself for a jump: and fell short.
It is clear to the human researchers that the chimpanzee has become frustrated. He walked back to the seat on which he rested before he noticed the bananas. There he sat, stared into space, even dozed for at least a half hour. Suddenly, his eyes popped open, he left his state of repose and started to drag the boxes and furniture over to the area of the wall directly under the bananas. Carefully, he stacked them sturdily and securely by using the wall to steady his increasingly tall tower. When he was satisfied that his tower is complete, he easily climbed to the top, snagged the bananas, returned to the ground and to his original seat of repose, and enjoyed a meal in comfort and satisfaction.
What happened to the chimpanzee in this event? First, he tried and failed — multiple times. Second, he became frustrated and stopped. Third, and most importantly, he sat and did nothing. Without warning, the solution came to his mind. He did not create the solution, but his actions had produced the building blocks to the solution in his mind. By releasing strain and grasping, the building blocks had space to form themselves into a workable solution.
The same thing can happen in our own minds. There is a scientific name for this: insight learning. This name is deeper than it may initially appear. The word “insight” has an interesting etymology that can help us to understand the significance of this word. It is combined of two parts. The first part “in-” means, predictably, “in” or perhaps “within.” This prefix appears in many English words. The second part, “sight,” derives from the Old English word “sihth” which referred to the act of seeing or ability to see. Most interestingly, this word could also mean “a vision.”
The word “insight” has a long history — at least four centuries. When it first came into common usage, it referred to the ability to access an inner sight or to have visions within the mind that elucidated deep truths. These truths are the kind that are very easy to overlook if we are using our “everyday minds.” Our “everyday minds” are all too often cluttered and even overwhelmed with the sheer amount of mundane objects of perception that we encounter each day. Over time, the word has expanded its meaning to include the ability to understand complex concepts and situations at a level that is not obvious and may even seem hidden.
We live on the narrow line between lucid, effective thinking and assertive action on one side, and the strain of grasping on the other side. Living on a narrow line may sound stressful, but it is not. When we release the strain of grasping, the narrow line becomes much wider. We realize that the more we strained, the narrower the line became. No longer grasping, the building blocks of information that our minds have perceived have room to float and drift, settling into various patterns of their own accord. Because our minds are the seat of all our senses and perception and may even be included as the chief sense among all our other senses, the information that we need to solve many problems is already there. We can relax and trust that given enough room and time, our minds can recognize, often in a sudden burst of insight, when we have found a solution to our problem. In this way, we can develop the ability to act effectively and skillfully in each moment.
Perhaps instead of using the singular (“solution”), we should use the plural. For there are many ways to solve problems, many ways to navigate the currents that flow in the sea of perception which we functionally call “reality.” The goal is not to solve, but to navigate in a way that is both effective and skillful. And in this way, we cultivate a peaceful and confident presence that enhances our own well-being and sends out into the world an energy that contributes not to chaos and dissension but to calm and ease.
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