We construct reality with images. We never truly understand reality as it is. When we see something with our eyes, light reflects off that object, enters our eyes, and our minds convert that light signal into an image. We are not seeing the thing itself. We are seeing a mentally constructed image.
When we engage in a relationship, we do not engage with that person directly. The relationship exists between our self-image and our image of the other person. Just as a picture of the Grand Canyon is not the thing itself, our images of other people are not those people themselves.
We manipulate these images in our minds. We apply words, thoughts, and feelings to these images. These images imprint into our memory. They become the movies of our lives. We play and replay them. We tell ourselves stories with these images. Our sense of identity, the thing we call “I”, is brought to life with these images. We spend a lot of time replaying images about ourselves. We are infatuated with immortalizing our self-image.
But these images are not real. They are a figment of our imagination. They are an illusion. These images help us interact with reality, but they also get in the way of seeing reality. The map is not the territory. The territory is always changing. The territory is impermanent. If we do not update our maps to reflect the changing territory, then we lose touch with reality.
If we can learn to unlearn our images, our preconceptions, and our biases, then we begin to see the world in a new way. The stale, dull, outdated images are perpetually renewed and reborn. We can live in a perpetual present instead of the illusory images of the past. Colors become vibrant. Sounds gain richness. Our experience comes alive.
