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A cook, an artist, and a physicist were all looking at the same
rectangular surface. The cook saw a table on which he could chop onions,
parsley, and carrots. The artist saw a series of colors that he could reproduce
on canvas. The physicist saw electrons, protons, and neutrons spinning in
space. Which one had knowledge? Which was ignorant? Who was right? Who was
wrong? |
If we want a delicious bowl of
vegetable soup for lunch, can we say that the cook knows what the rectangular
surface is: a place to chop vegetables. Clearly, neither a series of colors nor
atoms spinning in space is going to get us that bowl of soup.
Likewise,
if what we want is a lovely picture to decorate our living room wall, it is the
artist who has the answer with his series of colors to be reproduced on canvas.
Chopping onions, parsley, and carrots won't get us the painting, nor will
spinning electrons, protons, and neutrons do it.
If the cook, artist,
and physicist all agreed to call the rectangular surface "a table" or "une
table" or "una mesa", could we say that they knew what the rectangular surface
was? If all Europeans in the 14th Century agreed that the earth was flat, could
we say that they knew that the earth was flat? I don't think so. They simply
all perceived that it was flat.
What is this thing called knowledge
anyway? What is this thing called ignorance? Can we know anything with one
hundred percent certainty?
John and Joan are putting together a puzzle.
They find the border pieces and get them in place. They match similar colors
and shapes and eventually, all the puzzle pieces fit together in a rectangle.
Can they say they know they finished the puzzle and got everything right? Can
they say they have the answer? While they may know how to put together that
particular puzzle, do they know anything outside the borders of that
puzzle?
What if there is a human puzzle that can be explained and
deciphered in human terms? What if part of solving that puzzle and "knowing"
that the solution is "right" results from an understanding of one's own mind,
emotions, and consciousness? What if delving deep into one's own consciousness
is a terrifying and humbling experience? How many of us would undertake the
journey? Once undertaken and comprehended, could we even begin to think we know
anything beyond our own minds and senses?
What if solving the human
puzzle requires an understanding of the relationship between our experiences
and the words we use to chop them up. Words are divisive. They separate:
black/white; right/wrong; truth/falsehood; Christ/Antichrist;
knowledge/ignorance. We chop our experience up into words all the time, and
what's more, we all do it differently - just like the cook, the artist, and the
physicist.
"We are created in the image of our Maker." Our Maker was
the creator. Is it possible that we, too, are creators: of words, of emotions,
of actions?
If everything we think and feel and do is a creation of
mind, what then do we choose to create? War? Or peace? Harmony? Or violence?
Love? Or hate? Poverty? Or abundance? Heaven? Or hell?
The next time
you think or feel or talk or act, stop yourself and ask: "Is this what I choose
to create?"
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The World of
Empowerment...
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