May 27-A, 2023

We cannot see,
or be shown,
what we cannot see.

We all have "blind spots"
due to our assumptions
and expectations,
beliefs 
and convictions.

Our psychic configuration
can shut down 
our physical abilities.

We are possessed by
forces we cannot comprehend.

People who have been
"brain washed,"
or hypnotized--
and where does that line lie--
lose their ability
to function appropriately
in the world of sense experience.

They cannot experience 
their experience.
They are cut off from themselves,
and live as zombies or robots
among those who see what they look at
and know what they know
and what they do not know.

Ideology does that to its adherents.
Fascism is a way of seeing
that does not see, hear, comprehend
the world it cannot see, hear, comprehend
because its ideology blinds it to reality.

Arguing with a fascist,
or a religious fanatic,
is a lost cause.

Asking them,
"Who says so?"
about everything they say,
and "How do you know 
they know what they are talking about?"
and, "How can you be sure 
that you are right about that?"
and, "What would it take to convince you
that you are wrong about that?"
and, "What would it take for you
to change your mind about that?"
and, "When did you come to your present
point of view?"
and, "What convinced you that your former
way of seeing was inadequate?"
are ways of shifting the focus
from what they declare to be so
to how they came about their convictions
and how they might examine their convictions 
in light of something other than their convictions.

They are locked into a tight circle
of believing what they believe
because they believe what they believe
is the only possible thing to believe,
and they cannot get outside of how they see
to see what they are looking at.

We have to see our seeing
and ask all of the questions that beg to be asked,
and say all of the things that cry out to be said, 
if we hope to see anything at all.

–0–

If you are a subscriber and get the photo associated with each blog entry but not the text, it is because there is a hitch in the code that causes text to appear as white on a white background. Until that is corrected, the work-a-round, suggested by sandync 28704, is to click on the date of the blog above the photograph and that should link you directly to the blog.