Have you ever seen the 2004 movie, What the Bleep Do We Know!? I’ve watched it a few times. It’s a hypnotic and startling probe into the nature of reality. It demonstrates, through real life examples, the limits we have learned to live with and the possibilities that may lie outside of those limits. One scene has stayed with me in particular and I think of it often. In this scene, the narrator uses the arrival of Christopher Columbus’ ships to the New World, to illustrate the nature of our limitations. The narrator suggests that it would have been impossible for the average native person of that time to actually see the ships as they arrived, that the sight of something they had never witnessed nor heard tell of, would have been too far outside of their reality – of what IS – to be seen. The narrator suggests it would have likely been the shaman or seer who would have first noticed the ships and through his or her guidance would have helped the other members of the community to see the ships arriving. Of course, we can never know what that experience was like. Still this idea - we see only what we expect to see - resonates for me. To take this idea further - that which is outside of our understanding just doesn’t exist for us - may feel limiting and disappointing. If turned on its head, though, it can be incredibly liberating. What if expanding our capacity to see, to be open to what is, is indeed unlimited? What if it’s simply a matter of opening our eyes and our minds and our hearts a little wider?
This scene from What the Bleep Do We Know!? came to be again yesterday as I was making guacamole and looking for my avocado smasher.I knew it would be in one of two drawers. I looked in the first drawer and didn’t see it. Then I went to the second drawer and it wasn’t there either. Hmmmm….? When I returned to the first drawer, of course, there it was, right in plain sight. How did I miss it the first time? After giving it a little thought, I became aware that although I started my search in the first drawer, I was convinced my husband would have put it in the second drawer. (I will spare you the gory details of our convoluted kitchen organization.) The point is that my expectation of it being in the second drawer actually BLINDED me and prevented me from seeing it in the first drawer initially. I had to rewrite my expectations in order to find my avocado smasher.
The implications here are just as wide and far-reaching in this example as they are in the example of Columbus’ ships. It may leave me with more questions than it does answers, but the questions are spectacular!
If we see what we think we will see, what happens when we open up to what else is out there?
How do we even do this?
Do we all have the capacity to be shamans or seers?
Can we rewrite our expectations?
What if there are no limits on our capacity to see?
PS In case you’re wondering, the guacamole turned out great!