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Good
morning <$firstname$>,
When
was the last time you couldn't believe your eyes? For me
that was Tuesday 11 September 2001, five years ago today,
when I saw airplanes crashing into the World Trade Centre
in New York on TV, collapsing the twin towers within two
hours.
This
simply cannot be happening, I thought. Is this a movie?
It was just too outrageous to be real - and yet, as the
tragedy unfolded before our very eyes live on TV, I had
to accept it as true - seeing is believing, isn't it?
As
incredible as the 9/11 events were at the time, they are
part of our reality today and we see the world with different
eyes - life as we know it has changed, not only in the USA.
Although
I haven't been visiting New York myself since then, it never
occurred to me that 9/11 might be a gigantic, cruel show.
Of course is wasn't. However, we can believably show anything
on screen these days with special effects technology.
After
all, in 1997 a movie called 'Wag
the Dog' with Dustin Hoffman and Robert de Niro
won two Oscars : a clever Hollywood producer and an American
politician fabricate a war in Albania for TV, only to divert
the public's attention from a sex-scandal which threatens
the re-election of the country's president. Is it ironic
that this whole scenario is very believable these days?
Film
producers and politicians know that perception, not reality,
is paramount to influence people. We tend to believe what
we see with our own eyes, and yet our eyes betray us all
the time : the long lines in the first picture here for
example are parallel, but the clever positioning of the
short lines creates the illusion that they are not.
The
second, rather famous image on the right here illustrates
that what you see depends on you, not the picture - do you
see the young woman or the old woman? Change your focus
and you can see them both - there are always at least two
sides to every story.
Beauty
is in the eye of the beholder - what we believe is true
for us. There is no objective reality because we all see
the world through different glasses. We can choose the pink
or the dark variety at any time, even view life through
the bottom of a wine-bottle if we find that appealing.
We
forget that we can choose though, only to take the same
habitual viewpoints all the time, no matter what we observe
- and miss a great opportunity to consciously create our
own reality, to live in a world as we want it.
Life
is a subjective experience, a projection : you tailor-make
it to your own individual specifications. Life is an illusion,
like a movie or a play on stage, although it appears to
be real at the time of viewing because you immerse in it
to feel the excitement, drama and joy of the action.
Why
would you want to see a horror movie then?
Because
you also love the terror and suspense - it is exhilarating
and makes you feel alive. In a cinema, you are conscious
of the fact that you are watching an illusion, that you
have a temporary experience and will leave the theatre to
return to 'real' life afterwards.
But
life as a whole is the same way. Once we realise that we
constantly create our pain as well as our happiness because
we want or need to experience it, we'll take responsibility
for everything that happens to us and accept the power to
change it.
If
we did it, we can undo it.
There
is nothing in your life that you have not created or attracted.
You are the producer, director, scriptwriter and main character
in this play. As long as you believe that there is someone
else out there setting the stage, you dis-empower yourself
to do anything about the performance.
But
still, all sensations portrayed in the show are temporary
and we can choose to either label them as painful or enjoyable
- nothing is painful, unless you think it is. Let's not
forget that there are people who are jubilant about what
happened on 9/11 in New York.
Five
years down the line, have we learnt anything? Let's just
say that what I see today only confirms my resolve to stay
out of politics and create my own world.
And
some people still need their eyes tested, I think.
Until
next time, all the best from :
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