One of the most enlightening things to experience in this world is an objective perspective. To look at something, anything, as it exists alone, unadulterated by your established thoughts & perceptions.

We don’t see life as it is.

Everything we experience, from every word we read to every song we hear to every person we meet; everything is tinted & changed by what has come before it.

Imagine that there is a tree. Such as it is, it is a tree. Its function is to be a tree. It doesn’t speak of life, it doesn’t remind you of your childhood. It doesn’t feel lonely in the depths of a stark winter, or feel its purpose grow in the beauty of a summer’s day. It’s a tree .

Now imagine that you see the tree. Your brain takes the objective information (look, it’s a tree), & filters it through years of personal perspectives & experiences. It’s almost as if that image is pulled through every single memory you have before it reaches your consciousness, & each one leaves a little bit of itself stuck to that tree. Everything you’ve ever learned about trees. Every memory you have that in any way relates to trees, even just their essence — the fresh smell of pines from up the valley, or the rustling sounds of oak leaves in an autumn wind. Every tree in a movie you’ve ever seen. Every thought or feeling you’ve had or been taught to have sticks like a film to that poor tree, & leaves it coated in layer upon layer of emotion and history. It’s not just a tree anymore. No. Now it’s an experience, an experience as unique to you as your fingerprint. No one else has the exact same combination of thought & emotion, no one else has a tree made from the exact same collage of fractured memory. As you see that tree, filtered through so many different colours, so many tints & hues of experience & history, so you see life.

Lessons Learned & Unlearned.

This manner in which we experience life, through pre-set filters and learned outcomes, is useful. It helps us build our intuition, & make quick decisions that are sometimes necessary for our survival. It’s in the obvious lessons we consciously learn — “That’s a dark alley way with no one around, let’s not go there”. It’s in the unconscious reading of body language & intent that stops us before we go talk to the stranger in the corner, because something just doesn’t feel right. It’s also how we build understanding & relationships. Why we react differently to different people, even when faced with the same circumstance. The way we respond to our father is different to the way we respond to our best friend, even if they ask the same question. As animalistic or situation based creatures, we use these filters & learned responses as a necessary part of daily life. Everything we do or see is processed from our own, very personal perspective. Along with this comes the danger of prejudice. Things we never consciously chose to accept into our lives & beliefs exist in us, almost without our knowledge. It’s in the insecurity we feel around the opposite sex, our inability to motivate & believe in ourselves. It’s in who we pick up as hitchhikers & who we don’t. Our prejudices can extend towards ourselves, others, even animals & inanimate objects- we need to understand & accept that they exist so that we can manage them. When we refuse to accept the possibility of a different outlook or understanding, we cut ourselves off from life & from growth, because we’ll only ever embrace that which we already know.

The way we experience these things is the way we’ve learned how to. Nothing for a human is just the way it is, nothing is just simple. Look at the world around you & imagine that everything you see is made up of miniscule pictures & split second samples of scents & sounds. That every surface swims with swirling fragments of thought. That every melody smells like a memory. & that everything is tinted by the essence of you , both good & bad.

Imagine that tree. That tree that is just a tree, really. See its trunk patterned with childhood, memories & memories of memories; dancing & blending in & out of each other. Feel the warmth of the sun on your back, & the icy cold of winter rain. Remember that you always wanted to carve a lovers name into a heart in a tree. Now feel your longing to be held. Touch the bark. Feel happy & feel sad as electric slivers of dreams smell like roses & melancholy & baking bread. Hear your mother’s voice on the wind, & the laughter of bullies in the darkness. Experience the exhilarating emptiness of flying too high & leaning too far back in the swing. Taste the static of a thunderstorm & the energy of lightning before it strikes. Now feel it all at once. That’s our perspective of that simple tree, albeit in the tiniest flash of a moment. Imagine how we actually experience life.

Clarity.

The greatest thing about understanding the cumulative & learned nature of our personal perspectives is that we have the potential to see past it. When you accept that what you see may not be exactly what exists, you give yourself the opportunity to pick apart the parts. To remove your filters & scrub away the memories & lessons layer by layer, until all you have left is the real thing. Sometimes it’s as simple as shutting yourself up (internally & externally), & earnestly listening to someone talk. It can be ridiculously difficult, like trying to understand a hatred for another based on the colour of their skin, a hatred you never asked for nor consciously chose to accept. When we learn that how we see things is because of who we are & our experiences throughout life, we can learn to stop & strip. Stop the action, & strip the emotion. Peel back the layers & see the reality of a situation as best we can. We can also begin to understand the actions of others- or rather accept our lack of understanding- because we know that we are seeing things from a different perspective. When we understand that , it becomes easier to be patient & to facilitate honest communication. When you do that you are presented with the objective nature of something. It’s an amazing & liberating experience. To be free of your filters & burdens & just really see. When you take a step back, you no longer experience the memories — the tastes, scents, sounds, emotions. All you see is a tree, as it is. Just being a tree. Not threatening or tempting or distracting. Just a tree. Now you can do with it what you will. Maybe build a tree -house.

You can apply this to any part of your life, anything you want to re-evalute or understand more deeply. Anything you want to see differently. Taking the time to teach yourself how to see things from alternate perspectives has numerous positive affects, from being able to better understand a partner or friend, to being a happier, less conflicted person. Most of all, you will learn about yourself- how your history has affected you, why you do things a certain way. With this knowledge comes the power to change, & that’s an opportunity not to be wasted lightly. Without being blinded by a mass of experience & emotion, we gain clarity & can learn even more about the world around us. We are better equipped to be leaders & decision makers because we have the ability to see more than memory. With real sight comes real change.

So learn to see your filters. Understand your perspective. Stop the way you’re feeling, your reactions. Strip away the memories, the prejudices & the learned behaviours. Free yourself to the opportunity of the objective mind. Just see the tree. See reality.

Life’s more peaceful when it has more trees.