The Way Things Are?

Infographic: We behave and act as if we would see the world as it is – while layer after layer of perceptive veils obstruct our ability to see us and all phenomena they way they really are: The visual line of the viewer (bottom left) fades out to the world (top right). In between lie veils and obscurations everything perceived:

  • Past Experiences (experiences made, incl. childhood conditioning, deeply shape our way of seeing the world as well as level of trust and intimacy),
  • Expectations and Beliefs (which internalized beliefs and shadows obscure my perception of the world as it is?),
  • Cognitive Veils (what does my presence allow me so see, what not?),
  • Perspectives (how many perspectives can I take simultaneously? One (myself ), two (observer and object), three … 8, 9?),
  • Stages / Levels (Stage of development like ego- / ethno- / world-centric view, value levels like Spiral Dynamics etc.),
  • States (we see the world differently if tired, sick, intoxicated, in love etc.),
  • Types (male, female; psychological types etc. all make a difference in experiencing the world)
  • and much more not named here and not seen by the author…

Thus the reader experiences the world differently as the author, as a third person etc. An integral approach that is multi-perspectival, applies corss-level communication and works inter-disciplinary can maybe be of help.

See also our explanatory film “The Way Things Are”, a video referring to the same subject – worth seeing!