It happened the other night when a group was sitting around in a social situation when a man started to mock a nurse for having a scientific view of germs. He called it indoctrination when I pointed out that she was a trained nurse in the medical profession. As he escalated his rant, I said, "I'm not willing to listen to your version of reality," and went to another small group.
What we see and hear so often in America these days is a conflict in our visions of reality. The world as you see it right here, right now, is reality regardless of what scientists say about it. And the world revealed by scientific discovery is also reality, no matter how it may appear. People tend to have a favored dimension of reality and are upset when others intrude on it and challenge their lifestyle.*
There can be two mutually inconsistent realities, one of immediate appearance, ruled by function and feel, and one of underlying scientific explanation, ruled by analytics and research. Of course they don't fit and don't have much of anything to do with one another. Now that's quite a situation!
Now the metaphor of dimensions, seeing ones point of view and even realities are all related to sight. I just had cataract surgery where my right eye lens was replaced giving me 20/15 vision. Pretty darn good I'd say. Well the left eye is 20/30'ish but has the advantage of being able to see small print. Two different ways of seeing things.
I remember using contact lenses decades ago and came across the strategy of mono vision. Monovision is a vision correction strategy that adjusts one eye for distance and the other for near, reducing reliance on glasses though it may take time for the brain to learn to "balance" between the two images. So far my brain is adapting pretty well and I can see far away and close up. By closing one eye I can really see great in either dimension. Enough of that for now.
Time for another metaphor. One of my favorites is, "The one with the shovel gets to dig the ditch." I used to feel put upon sometimes that I was the one that always got things done at home, at work or just about anywhere. This phrase has helped keep my ego right sized on many occasions and has a place at the center of this situation of mutually exclusive dimensionality. If you can see the difference, that's your shovel. Perfecting the dimension correcting strategy similar to that of Monovision allows the opportunity to interpret what has been irreconcilable differences and at least allow the possibility of reconciling the situation a bit or at least de-escalating it. The brain has to adapt to speak from and about both worlds coherently.
The ability to see differing dimensions of reality is a strategy and one that requires effort and lots of practice. For me it has been worth it.
There is, however, a cautionary note for serious consideration. Anyone willing to take up this strategy, practice seeing both dimensions, must exercise extreme care. You may be considered eccentric, then possibly crazy and shunned or possibly institutionalized by court-ordered removal from society. Exercising discretion is key as in the following riddle:
What's the difference between a mystic and a psychotic?
The difference is that the mystic knows who not to talk to!
*Apologies to Robert M. Pirsig
