Believing is Seeing

Excerpts from book "I can, Therefore I will"

Distinguishes Clearly - One of the important function of Mind

What we see is not always what we get. There are certain things in this world in which their physical appearance is far different from their real attributes. Using only our 5 bodily senses, we may readily accept what we see, hear, smell, taste, and feel even if it refutes reality. But with the mind, it helps us distinguish clearly what the entity really is; thus, helping us too in making wise decisions.

Take for example this situation: you overheard a person say that it will rain this afternoon. Without thinking and analyzing the circumstances, you are going to believe it unhesitatingly. You may even cancel your plans in going out in order to avoid the hassle it will bring. In other words, without any basis other than some opinion of a person you don’t even know, you accept the idea as true. And so, you make adjustments.

Using the mind, we can always not believe what we sense. This is if, not only they contradict with the observations, analyses and evaluations we made with them, but also they disprove a general truth. In the situation above, the mind can intervene in several manners – observing if the clouds are darker than usual, checking the weather news in the TV or newspaper for possible pouring of rain, etc – so as not to immediately accept the idea that it is going to rain. For instance, having observed the outside climate, you found out that the sun is high and the clouds are clear. Or, having checked the weather news, you knew that there will be no rain during the day. Therefore, you may now conclude that it will not going to rain, and that you don’t have to cancel any plans you have.

Hence, what our five senses cannot perform well, the mind does!