The What-Is-Not

[Shannon]

I have to say, I don’t get this. I don’t mean this in an argumentative way, I just don’t understand. I’ve always been one to tell people that they feel what they feel and their feelings are never wrong, it’s what they feel. And this seems very similar to me. You want people to see what they see but then you tell them it’s wrong. How can what they see be wrong? They see what they see. What makes your sighting right for anyone other than you?

If I have a target, and I drop a bomb thirty miles away from it, did I miss the target? I want people to see what I see, not what they see. They already see what they see. If they already saw what I see, they wouldn't have to try to figure out what I see.

My experience has been that feelings can be wrong, and blind acceptance of them is not really always a good method for staying healthy. If I blindly accepted my feelings all the time, as you seem to suggest, I would never have left the ex who was physically, emotionally and mentally abusive to me, because my feelings still to this day tell me that I love her. Had my rational mind never gotten the upper hand, I would either be dead or in prison right now for killing her in response to her borderline personality. In this case, my feelings were wrong.

You cannot simply toss aside all challenges and say that there is no wrong answer. While it is true that some things cannot have a wrong answer, there is no learning without a restriction to what is being targeted. Imagine saying that on a mathematics test, "There is no wrong answer, if you feel that the answer is correct, then it is." I don't know about you, but someone who achieves a degree in engineering with a test like that, I don't want working on any part of the airplane I'll be riding in.

In this case, there is a specific answer I am looking for. If you understand, great. If not, keep trying until you either do understand, or no longer wish to understand.