“Your eyes can deceive you.Don’t trust them” – Obi-Wan Kenobi “Episode 4: A New Hope”.

What do we perceive when we see with our eyes? Most people would say that what is seen is what exists. That our eyes do not deceive us. Vision is more than just the eyes.

The eye are only one of the five senses that help with orienting the body in space. The eyes project light emitted by “reality” as colors, depth and shapes to receptors in the retina. The receptors then convert the light signals in to electrical signals which are then conveyed to the part of the brain in the visual cortex where they are processed as images and interpreted by the brain.

The reality is that how We perceive something may be different between individuals. Pink and green will appear differently to different people. What I see may not appear the same to the next guy.

A time lag also exists between the moment an object is observed to the moment it is mentally processed and recognized. A bird taking flight from a branch will already have flown by the time we register it.

The stars are light years away. A star we see may in fact no longer exist. The event has not reached us yet. When we look at the Stars we are peering at the past.

Reality is an Illusion

Some scientists now suggest that reality only seems to exist because our consciousness perceives it. If consciousness did not exist then neither would the universe. If a tree falls in a forest but no one is there did it happen?

The nature of matter and energy is largely unknown. Quantum physics suggests that matter is essentially packets of energy at the fundamental sub particle level. That time and reality at that level is nonsensical and chaotic unlike the seeming order of the Universe at the cosmic level.

Physicists point out that at the atomic level resides a nucleus comprised of sub atomic particles that are essentially energy. Each nucleus is surrounded by a sphere of magnetic force in which moves electrons shifting in time and space. Matter therefore is energy which can be expressed in mathematical terms.

When I see something I am perceiving something that is not really there. When I touch something I am not really touching it, I am encountering the electrical tension of the atoms.

Use the Force

The lesson here is we should use our eyes but not to rely on them solely as a gauge of reality. Our eyes can deceive. We should make use  of all our faculties and our intuition to get a true picture.

Unlike the Fictional Jedi it is highly unlikely many of us have Force Powers that give us a heightened sense of perception. There is probably some people who posses “vision”, an ability to sense things that few of us can. Call it the third eye, sixth sense or transcendent awareness.

Scientists have postulated that our ancestors had a “third eye” at the partially dormant pineal gland. As civilization evolved and humans became separated from nature the faculty receded. Most people have some level of intuition and in children it can be quite high. Meditation, prayer and contemplation has been shown to enhance the parts of the brain involved in subconscious thought.

One thing I have noticed in recovery is a growing gradual awareness. I still need my eyes to see in front of me and to interact with my environment but the vision is deeper and sharper. With sobriety comes clarity and a heightened sense of awareness.  Reality begins to come in to sharper focus. We are no longer so easily misled by our eyes as we used to be. We are seeing with sober eyes.