Philosophy Discussion Forums

This is a discussion forum topic for the November 2022 Philosophy Book of the Month, In It Together: The Beautiful Struggle Uniting Us All.


We see what we want to see, meaning what we choose to see.

The angry person will see reasons to be angry.

The unforgivingly resentful person will see unchangeable things worth resenting.

For others, the whole world is as beautiful as the beautiful eye and soul that beholds it.

If you look for reasons to be grateful, you will find them. You will find an infinite supply of them.



---
The book is available for purchase from all major book retailers in both ebook and hardcover format.

View on Barnes and Noble | View on Amazon | View on Books-A-Million | View on Bookshelves

This is called discovering one's true source of existence. The experience of true source of existence is generated by a true love that one finds in the course of his or her exploration of truth.

I think it is a phenomenon that is associated with selfishness, ego, morbid pride, etc. A similar thought is found and discussed in the December Philosophical BOTM forum currently.

https://onlinephilosophyclub.com/forums ... 57&t=18492

We choose to see (or hear) what we want to be in or strengthen our beliefs. We are afraid and reluctant of change. So we choose not to hear (or see) any opposing facts.

People often let their emotions guide their thoughts and actions, rather than critically thinking about the problem at hand. If you’re overly negative, you will see everything as negative.

I have found this to be true in my life. If I'm blinded by anger, I'll find every reason to be angry. If something good just happened, I'll be more grateful about everything.

I'm not religious, but my first response to this post was, "PREACH!" I worry about this, sometimes. What am I missing because I'm not seeing it? How can I change my worldview so I see things differently? Am I missing a great thing because I'm focused on something else? It's a daily, perhaps lifelong, wrestling match with my brain.

This is so true. As humans, we choose what we want to be or see. We sometimes get mad because we see reasons as to why we should get mad or we feel happy because we have reasons that makes as feel happy. In conclusion, we have the power to choose what we want to be.

If this truth alone can be learned, it will provide much-needed relief to so many currently suffering. You can always go back to this truth and find freedom in that you do not have to think this way. Your life thus far and your ego may cause you to believe you NEED to think this way when a certain situation happens. However, it simply is not so. You can just decide - I choose to think this way - and you can. Your mind is a free space to do with whatever you please.

I agree- I think we choose how we want to feel and find reason to justify that. Two people can have the exact same experience and one can pull out only the negative aspects of it and the other can see some positive impacts. I think if you are generally a negative person, then you will see the negative side to all of your experiences. Or if you are angry at the world, then every day you can find reasons to support being angry.

I believe in this myself 100%
I believe we are in charge of our own happiness and it might not always be easy, but by focusing on the good in life and the beauty. Things that are positive and make you happy, that is what you code into your mind everyday. By focusing on the bad, negative, and irritating things daily, that is what you will see instead of the positives and good. That is what you load your mind with. So it is up to you in what you focus on daily.

Sure, this is true. There are lots of things to see in the world, but each person chooses to see what they want. As a matter of fact, two people can see the exact same thing and come away with two different feelings. For example, if a child drops an ice cream cone, one will see only wasted ice cream and another will see only the hurt feelings of the child. It all depends on the perspective of the observer.

I follow this every day. Even when my world was falling apart, I still spent time each morning finding things to be grateful for and to be happy about. Finding this happiness allowed me to see all the good in my life. No, the bad did not go away, but it could not consume or control me. I could see the good in others, and to understand their pain better.

I agree with you. I just finished answering the question about the most recent time I changed my mind about something significant and I stated there that I recently changed my mind about my religion. (if you can call 2020 recent) I converted from Christianity to agnostic. Well, I bring this up here because I realized that when I was a Christian, we point of view was really clouded. I would ignore flaws and biases in the scriptures just because it didn't serve purpose of strengthening my faith and I would latch unto those passages that do. I did not realize this until I converted. Then things that made sense before now started sounding like fables. Some act of wickedness which I once justified in the scripture now appeared just as they are, wickedness. It comes to show that we only see what we want to see.

I think this is human tendency to look out for the things we want to see. If we are sad, we often look at the negative aspects of most things. If we want an opportunity, we look forward to getting one.

What you have said here is very good. It’s thought provoking and causes great mental work.

I do agree with you, especially after reading over this a few times and working it out in my head.

We do tend to feel how our mind thinks. If we are happy, our mind finds reasons to be happy; however, if we are hurt or sad, we tend to be bitter or angry at lots of things and continue down that emotional path. We need to make choices to put ourselves in a positive thinking mode, so we can stay in a good attitude and be far more pleasant and productive.