Reflect to the world around you who you see yourself to be.

The famous philosopher George Carlin used to say, “anyone who drives faster than you is crazy and anyone who drives slower than you is an idiot.” When you stand in a crowd and look at other people, what do you see? Crazies or idiots? Where does that leave you? Have you ever considered what the actual action of seeing really is? The mechanics, i’m sure are complex, but in its essence our eyes take in light. They absorb the light that carries data to our brain. Notice that I said “data” not information. Thats because in its raw state before it is processed it is nothing more than potentiality. If you were unable to process the light signal you would just see chaos or noise. The same thing would happen if you were in a white or black room. A very interesting set of things occur between reception and perception. First we know that light vibrates at different rates bringing color information to our eyes. In this case it is information because it has been preprocessed by whatever has absorbed and reflected, essentially filtered a portion of the spectrum. That object has its own frequency as well. When the light gets to our eyes more information is lost as our eyes shave the spectrum or filter again into what we call visible light. What was once a chaotic flood of light bouncing around the environment has now lost both data and information to become processable by our brain.

Crazies or idiots? That is a lot of information to lose. Things like, how old their car is, fuel consumption awareness, worn out tires, or German engineering and tons of traction all contribute. The point is that our generalizations have shed more information than they have gained. Information entropy occurs everywhere. Consider the information lost in a solid set of conservative values. What happens then at the point of perception? The tools we have created to manufacture generalizations and decrease the processing burden on our brain work like exactly so many other things around here, they filter. Filters separate and polarize the infinite into digestible bits.
Vision is a two part process. The act of seeing is as much about giving as receiving. Once the light has entered our eyes it gets processed by the brain. Somewhere in there the information bounces around connecting to memories and actions. This set of past experiences creates the perceptual filters of what we are observing. It is at this point that the information reverses direction and begins heading back out of our eyes carrying the processed information of our filters back into the environment. Windows of the soul they say. More like mirrors of our environment. In quantum physics this act of observation is what collapses superposition. We can see that perception does in fact create changes in the environment.

The best cameras in the world are known for their sharp optics. The clearer the lens the less distorted the image on the film. The more “real” we would say. Why would this be valued? The more accurate the reproduction the more valuable the lens. If a lens shaves off certain details the image is lacking “truth”. I think its the same for people. The more light/information you can receive without discoloration the more likely to be “true” or “real” your actions.
Techgnosis is about retaining as much information as possible and acting through direct experience with as unmediated of a perception as you can. I call this “the flow” Its a conversation with the world around you. Your ability to listen and articulate truth should represent your actual value. You can actually create filters within yourself that amplify the light back out. I call this “polishing you mirror” I will write about this next time.