Reality Stamping

This weekend I decided to finally paint the guest bedroom. We've begun our pre-house-selling initiatives, and the room was slightly darker than desired and a little more teal than would mass-market. So out with the oil-based primer and paint fumes!

Painting is therapeutic. It's arduous, but brings thoughts and sometimes draws out new perspectives.

In this episode of fume-induced philosophy, the world suddenly became clear. Life became simple. The way our minds work became evident.

And it all revolves around color.

See, if I changed the wall color one fraction of a percent in hue tomorrow, would someone notice? Probably not. And the day after? Still unlikely. I concluded that given a long enough timeline, I could change the color on the wall from teal to red and not a soul would notice. In fact, any change could pass as imperceptible.



A back-up point is with kids. You notice how big other kids are getting more than you do your own. Because you see yours everyday. And you don't see others.

So here's what's simple. The mind stamps things as 'reality' and then dismisses them. So, if you see your hair this morning in a mirror, it's only a fraction of an inch longer than yesterday. It's completely imperceptible to you, and your mind stamps it as reality. It's only when you think of your hair during the last family get together do you realize how much it's changed. You reference an old reality stamp.


It was only after ventilating did I realize that this isn't exactly break-through material. But it is a concept. And if we can raise our perception of subtle changes...

So now I'm wondering what I'm not aware of.