Written By: Adam Abramowitz

If you think about what life really is, if you ponder what it means to be a human, you may find that we are all experiencing the same thing. You may find that there are more things unifying us, rather than separating.

In an effort to magnify what it means to be an individual, first, I want to start with perception. Not only of ourselves, but of the world that unfolds in front of our eyes at each drawn breath, heartbeat, and eye flutter…

I want to start with the assumption that we are all currently experiencing the same thing, the same phenomena of “Field of Vision”.

Life presents itself to us like a movie projector. A projector featuring our own sensory awareness. The reality that appears in front of us while we are awake is this “Field of Vision”. For example, right now, my own field of vision is displaying several things:

My hands are latched onto my iPhone, thumbs typing in pace. My legs are moving back in forth, pacing rhythmically to the tune of my inability to sit still. I can see a t-shirt covering my chest, a colorful portrait of a zebra, projecting my own style at whoever finds “me” in their own field of vision.

A field of vision that you, the reader, are also experiencing. Holding your phone up to your eyes, or leaning in closer to your laptop… maybe your fingers are twitching and you can see your hands, or you can hear the background chatter of your local haunt. 

The field of vision you are experiencing is your own, and currently, you are reading these words on your electronic device, your own window into the world as others see it. Although you may not be seeing the same painted zebra shirt, the same location (currently, I am writing inside the waiting room of a hospital) or the same sporadic leg movements that I suffer from. (To be fair, I don’t suffer from it, in fact, my left knee is now bouncing and swaying left and right, all that’s missing is a spindle to sew some silk.)

What you ARE seeing is the same phenomena.

Life.

If you are participating in my own thought exploration, I can reason that you, also, are alive. And, if you’re reading, our minds are now connected beyond the bounds of time and space. Although my thoughts have moved on (future Adam is probably watching Twilight Zone and eating Pop Tarts in his bed), the trail of my own thoughts linger on as your eyes skim word to word.

We are both alive, and we are both experiencing the same phenomena: a field of vision that allows us to interact with the world as we perceive it.

The way we interpret the people, places, and things that present themselves in our field of vision is a common denominator of difference. It’s what separates us from others. It is what allows us to be individuals: to have opinion or to develop belief, faith, and meaning for our lives. The way we chose to see things defines how life is formed around us.
The reality of life is our own and we get to choose what we place value in…

I place value in the moment. A moment that can be captured, influenced, or re-arranged based on our own desires. I believe we are not defined by the things that love us, but are instead defined by the things we love. It is my choice to share my passion with others, and it’s vast and intricate, yet as I think about it, profoundly simple: Creativity, or, Self- Expression…

This happens every time we open our mouths to speak. We are sharing bits of ourselves when we communicate thoughts, ideas, and opinions. Creativity is what I value, and even further, I value art. A form for creativity to hold.

Our ability to capture moments in time, or ideas within our mind, gives us the opportunity to share our own perception, while also influencing others. Art is exciting because it is completely dependent on how the artist chooses to present it, and how the recipient chooses to interpret the material. It is an opportunity to create value out of the ever-flowing river of time, and the mind that processes the journey. Art is a necessity of change, affecting influence solely through an individual’s own creative expression.

If you were to spend 5 minutes journaling, you would find that moments we lose track of, moments that seemed to ebb and flow together, are profoundly interesting. Not only could you observe the events of your day, but you would also be able to document how those events, however major or minuscule, were processed and interpreted by you. A you that is learning and adapting to the events and ideas that influence us on a daily basis.

Whether we realize it or not, our mind is working to process and interpret reality at a rate that is distinctly different than anyone else. As individuals, the world manifests itself specifically based on how we perceive it, and what we want out of it. That cookie in the cabinet that you’ve been thinking about? All you have to do is grab it.

As we participate in life, as we perceive and place value on the people, places, and things we love, we have no ability to see ourselves. In each moment of our existence, we have no clue what we look like to other people, and no way of truly knowing the value others place on our presence. (We can be shown, but as soon as the showing stops, we can be left in the dark…alone.)

The other day, I was in a dining hall full of people. All of the ideas you have just read were swimming around in my head, and I began to observe the people in my field of vision interact and engage with the environment. In this room full of people, I realized that the trait we all share is that nobody has any clue what they look like, or how they are perceived by anyone else. Everybody is locked in their own “field of vision” sensing, communicating, and interacting with the world as it presents itself individually to them. To anyone we encounter, we are just a physical representation of matter; a substance to define ourselves as human.

It was like I was viewing a room full of floating masks.

Everybody was experiencing the same first-person vision that I was (and still continue to experience, we are awake right?) while also unable to see behind each others eyes. The thoughts and feelings, the value we place on reality, is unable to be understood by anyone other than ourselves.

The field of vision and the reality that manifests itself around us is happening to each and every one of us, yet, I’ve heard people say, “You are NOT the center of the universe ”…

Years ago, I had tickets to see the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Live Tour. A couple of days before the concert, I became afflicted with a case of the chickenpox. In response to my illness, my mom told me that I couldn’t go to the event because it wouldn’t be fair for the other kids at the concert; I could get them sick.
As 6 year old Adam began to formulate a response to his mother’s lack of empathy for the omnipotent “Turtle Power”, he plotted out a rebuttal…

Mom,
Chicken pox is just a characterization of the living turmoil that is my human existence. As I live and breathe, I will see my turtles. No affliction of skin, no pestilence of procured illness, will prevent me from destiny. Nothing will stop me from joining my turtles, LIVE, in concert. I will be at that concert, or I will lose faith in the power of the human spirit. I will lose faith in me. And if I don’t believe in me, Mom, how is it possible for me to believe in something as grandiose and magical as God…

I’m sure that’s what I meant when 6-year old me said,

“But maaaaw. I don’t even feel sick!”

My mom told me that I was NOT the center of the universe and I need to think about other people’s health…

I disagree.

I’m pretty sure that chickenpox has a gestation period of only a day or two. And also, I think it may be best for kids to get chickenpox when they are younger so they can develop the immunity for it. Hundreds of red dots all over a body will NOT socially devastate a child. A functioning adult member of society though? Not good.

So yeah, if I would have gone to the Ninja Turtles concert, I could have helped kids get sick so their future selves could be better. Logic and shift of perception for the win…but I digress…

I also say we ARE the absolute center of the universe.

The cosmos we live in begins and ends only because we have the ability to see it. The physics of space and gravity, along with the infinitely expanding nature of our perceivable universe, removes any conceivable notion of location. In fact, location is a man-made device that allows us to coordinate placement on our planet. In the grand scheme of universal space dynamics, we are on a sphere (an infinite plane) that is revolving around another sphere(the sun), which is, itself, revolving within the confines of our galaxy (the milky way) which is also part of a revolution of other galaxies making up the universe…(whew)… and it is expanding exponentially…(whewww)…and we have no idea where the beginning of the universe even is…(gasp for breath) straight up, in space, there is no location.

If we were to record the movements of our solar system from another galaxy and time-lapse a few million millennia, we would be able to view our solar system as an intricate contraption. An astronomical anomaly that is floating, by way of gravity, in and around, up and down, through the cosmos. A cosmos that has no apparent beginning or end. A cosmos that is stretching itself to unknown territories that haven’t even been created yet…

Essentially, what I am trying to say is that YOU are the center of the universe. That means, you get to decide how you live…and in this moment, a moment that hopefully finds you completely stoked at the prospect of unlimited choice for your own life, I want to point out how absolutely astounding it is that your location makes no difference on whether or not we are able to connect. If you are still reading (first off, I’d like to say, congratulations to you) your thoughts are flowing with mine: literary telepathy.

We have bypassed the idea that location has any value in pursuit of creative energy. I have taken my own, documented it like a time capsule, and we are now traveling together: lost in the residual energy of my own ideas. Ideas that still hold weight on how I feel, published because they are true. (to me)

We are living in a universe that IS revolving around us, yet, intuitively; we want to be part of something bigger. The desire for community, the need to be understood, still perplexes me. It keeps me interested in life as it continues to evolve. As we continue to make advances in technology, as we continue to open our minds to equality in all aspects of society and culture, it seems that we are moving closer to a symbiotic relationship with our “selves” and the world we all inhabit.

If we can assume that nobody knows what they look like, we can begin to see others as potential mirrors. Potential reflections of ourselves. We can project the things we wish we were told, wish we were shown, at people who surround us daily.

As we pursue the things that define us, it is important that we express ourselves fully. That we take stock of our own inventory. Stock of the wants, desires, and ambitions that we find within ourselves. If we can begin to understand the things we love, we can begin to share them with others, and eventually, we will find ourselves embraced by these things as we pursue them…

From My Minds Eye To Yours