I was going to title this entry "We are the centers of our own universe" but it is too simplistic as I can never be sure what others feel.
Now that I'm back to my usual environment, I have been talking to friends about what each of us had done over the long Songkran holiday. I verbally recalled my land-and-sea journey from Brussels to Vasaa, Finland, to some non-blog-reader friends, but they didn't seem to "get" what I went through. Perhaps I wasn't such a good story teller face-to-face, but it just struck me how limited we are, in terms of communicating our feelings or our experiences. Just like if one never eats Durian (Thai fruit delicacy with very strong aroma), it is impossible to completely tell him what Durian tastes like.
Conversely, I am continuously amazed at how little I actually know what others are going through. I can imagine; I have sympathy and pity; I understand objectively. But the subjective information is entirely private. Pains of others can never equate to the pains of mine.
Speaking of pains, though pain relieving is a multi-million-dollar business, we don't have a tool to objectively quantify pains. Doctors still ask patients a question like, on the scale of 1-10, how much pain do you feel? What can be more unscientific than this? Each observation comes from different sample spaces.
One of the dhamma talks I listened to says that our mind/consciousness (จิต) is a receptor of sensations, feelings, thoughts... It is like our window to the outside world. And each of us has our own sensing device. I can never get access to another person's "signals" even if I want it. Of course, I can guesstimate from body languages and putting myself in other people's shoes, but it is still interpretation from my "world," my perspectives.
Does it matter? I guess not. I'm too busy processing and sorting out my own signals. Just that I no longer expect that I will be completely understood by another human being. We are just designed to be this way...
Now that I'm back to my usual environment, I have been talking to friends about what each of us had done over the long Songkran holiday. I verbally recalled my land-and-sea journey from Brussels to Vasaa, Finland, to some non-blog-reader friends, but they didn't seem to "get" what I went through. Perhaps I wasn't such a good story teller face-to-face, but it just struck me how limited we are, in terms of communicating our feelings or our experiences. Just like if one never eats Durian (Thai fruit delicacy with very strong aroma), it is impossible to completely tell him what Durian tastes like.
Conversely, I am continuously amazed at how little I actually know what others are going through. I can imagine; I have sympathy and pity; I understand objectively. But the subjective information is entirely private. Pains of others can never equate to the pains of mine.
Speaking of pains, though pain relieving is a multi-million-dollar business, we don't have a tool to objectively quantify pains. Doctors still ask patients a question like, on the scale of 1-10, how much pain do you feel? What can be more unscientific than this? Each observation comes from different sample spaces.
One of the dhamma talks I listened to says that our mind/consciousness (จิต) is a receptor of sensations, feelings, thoughts... It is like our window to the outside world. And each of us has our own sensing device. I can never get access to another person's "signals" even if I want it. Of course, I can guesstimate from body languages and putting myself in other people's shoes, but it is still interpretation from my "world," my perspectives.
Does it matter? I guess not. I'm too busy processing and sorting out my own signals. Just that I no longer expect that I will be completely understood by another human being. We are just designed to be this way...
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