Notes From the Next Dimension

Dale Goodvin

Through the Filters that Abide

At some point many of us have realized that we are seeing a blurred, indistinct, pale imitation of the real world. We go to a doctor and buy a pair of glasses and the world becomes sharper, clearer and more colorful. Might it be possible to change our minds in much the same way by examining our own internal filters and adjusting them as needed?

Between every person and the outer world are filters that mold what is determined to be right and wrong, intelligent and ignorant, true and false. Our personal reality filters are so powerful that red may look like yellow and make black white and white black and down up and up down. They can bring forth love and they can be the instigators of hate.

I would like to share an example of how one of my internal filters changed one day. I have always been perplexed when drivers angrily insist on tailgating someone who might be going 5 miles an hour “too slow.” One day, while being tailgated, my perception mysteriously transformed into an entirely new dimension. I suddenly realized that I respond in exactly the same manner as a tailgater when I am waiting in a slow line at grocery stores and restaurants and bookstores, etc., and that I scowl and start sending out angry vibes. My internal speedometer makes me erupt just like an angry KP Highway driver.

This realization was a godsend because I began to change my behavior and to breathe freely and to enjoy my leisure and to mentally and emotionally embrace my fellow humans caught up in a slow line with me, their formerly angry brother.

Our own Key Peninsula community is often in battle with itself, whether it’s over voting for taxes to support our schools and fire department or if it’s because the car in front of us refuses to speed. How do our filters contribute to understanding how to ethically and politically do what’s best for us when we vote and when we interact with others? How can our lives on the Key Peninsula become more enlightened and happier, not because of politicians or big wigs or by getting rich or winning an argument, but by a profound change within ourselves?

Perhaps part of the answer is to find new filters of compassion and understanding within ourselves, while simultaneously retaining our passion for what we believe, mixed with at least a smidgen of humility.

Yours in peace from the Next Dimension.

Dale Goodvin lives in Longbranch.