Thursday, April 16, 2015

You see what you want to believe

This picture is too important not to share it. A friend posted on facebook a long time ago and I was immediately struck by it. Once I recovered, I've saved it and kept it until I saw it recently again. The message behind the picture is as true now as before.




I think I shouldn't spoil the reflection part for you. Different people will see touch different parts of the elephant.

11 comments :

B said...

Hi LP

Excellent picture.

Whether the glass is half full or empty or whether we are fighting our very own ying and yang, the outcome could be different.

Singapore Man of Leisure said...

LP,

If we can see ourselves clearly, we'll see the world differently.

Sillyinvestor said...

Hi LP,

It makes me wonder if beyond the camera that is another picture.

As the picture gets bigger? Someone pointing a gun at camera man to get the image?

Very often we cannot see the full picture, as what we see is already filter by our values?

Is the full picture ? Does it even exists?

What if that picture not just expands but also moves??

la papillion said...

Hi B,

I was quite mind blown by the picture. It shows different things to me at different times Haha!

la papillion said...

Hi SMOL,

I believe so as well. As sun tzu would say, know yourself, know your enemy, a hundred battles, a hundred victories.

la papillion said...

Hi SI,

Haha! You saw beyond the context! Well done :) this picture shows a camera pointing at a scene, so who directs the camera man? The people who controls the mass media.

So you're very perceptive that there's someone behind the scene directing it :)

Investopenly said...

LP, Saw this picture before and it is quite a telling pic. Recently I attended a workshop and learnt that we, human being, a lot of times act based on beliefs and not fact and we go as far as possible to proof our beliefs "right" (which again might not be a fact). Example, a person who are believed that he is worthless will go all the way to proof that he is "right"!

la papillion said...

Hi Richard,

I think most facts are belief based information, or otherwise known as opinion. It's really hard to say that something is a fact, which is not a result of our current belief system.

You can imagine how in the past, the Sun rotates around the earth is such an entrenched 'fact' that it takes a lot of inertia to overcome this. The 'fact' that we're alive is also a suspect. There's a lot more future ahead of us than past, so maybe the human race had really gone extinct and we are just programs that captured our consciousness and made to loop again and again through our past lives? Who knows?

I don't know what I know anymore!

Rolf Suey said...

Hi LP,

I have to admit that the only thing i see in the pic is "what u see may not be what it is?" Who is prey and who is predator? sometimes u can't tell in real life.

What is good for u now, maybe bad later and vice versa?

The person u think is bad and who have been harsh and telling u the truth is actually your savior one day?

No matter how clearly we see ourselves we still cannot see some part of it. We still need to let others see it for us in some part. Then we need to change. "stubborn" is our biggest enemy!

I does not understand by elephant u talking abt? I c no elephant? hahaha .. enlighten me pls...

Rolf

la papillion said...

Hi Rolf,

You want to see which part of the elephant I touch? Haha, so here goes:

1. When we focus on something, we lose focus. A sniper can only look very closely at a small area, that's why he needs a spotter beside him to look out for him.

2. Framing. Mass media frames a situation to suit their own purpose. Just by emphasizing certain aspects, you can interpret differently. Hence, we need to be careful by what is portrayed.

3. Suspend judgement. Imagine hearing a glass shattering. You immediately picture someone knocking it down accidentally. We have to be mindful of what we're thinking because it can happen in a split second to make sense of a situation. I think it's a reminder for us to suspend judgement, listen without prejudice and see as many sides of the situation as we can before we jump to conclusions.


These are really the same themes that I present in my recent blog post, in response to things that happened to my life.

la papillion said...

Hi temperament,

Seeing is not believing. Believing something enough will make you see it. That's the title of the post :)