Something Different: A Philosophical Blog

My blogs usually have a political theme of one type or another. Occasionally I wander off into technologically. For this blog, let me be philosophical.

Most people have two eyes but only see with one. What do I mean? Humans have two eyes that work in tandem to see only one object at a time. Our vision is so focused we can only see accurately within a field of vision about the size of our thumbnail held at arm’s length.

Try it. Look at somebody or something about a hundred feet away. It’s hard to describe their shoes while looking at their hair. It’s hard to see if the rear tire of a car is flat while looking at the front tire. The same happen up close, too.

Consider this blog. Stare and concentrate on a single word, any word. While staring at the word, what can you see in your peripheral vision? A keyboard, maybe a sofa or a dining room table. That part’s easy with normal eyesight. However, most of us would never see a fly sitting on that object unless it moves. Our peripheral vision sees but lacks accuracy.

Now try to reading words around the word you’re staring at – left, right, above, and below. For most of us, unless the words are small in length and font, we can’t read more than two or three words without refocusing our eyes. Our eyes need to move to a new focal point.

That’s how narrow and focused our vision truly is. Sadly, it’s how our attitudes and viewpoints about other people and their beliefs also work. Too many of us have an emotional focus that matches our visual focus. We can’t see others clearly beyond our own tunnel vision.

Narrow-mindedness may keep us from drifting away from our moral compass. However, that narrow-mindedness also enslaves us. It creates hate and disrespect towards others who think differently, act differently, speak differently, etc. Even in places where demographics are highly diverse, we tend to lean towards sameness in our choices of friends. Same race, same religion, same cultures, same sex, etc. Some of us go out of our way to avoid those different than us. We’ve been brainwashed with fear.

Cliques aren’t necessarily a bad thing... unless we resort to negative actions against those not like us. No two people have led the exact same life. Sadly, we often fail to respect their differences and what made them different. Most people throughout the world have more in common than not, but our narrow-mindedness says otherwise. Most people just want a good job, a happy marriage, a happy family, enough money to enjoy basic amenities and leisure time, etc. They want freedom to be who they are, and to be respected.

Most people will never be an actual threat to us. Sadly, too many of us will allow the small percentage of evil-doers who do commit harm to control our viewpoint toward an entire race, an entire religion, an entire political belief. It needs to stop. It’s time everyone starts seeing beyond their thumbnail focus and respecting what’s in the periphery.