Dearest Friends,

Thank you for your presences and your participation in our most recent gathering.

In last week’s conversation, I used the metaphor of the spotlight to highlight how we can shine our attention on different aspects of our experience and how we can deploy the spotlight of our awareness in ways that can reduce our stress and anxiety.

In this week’s conversation, I used the metaphor of the photographic filter to highlight how our perception of our experience is altered by conditioning. In the field of photography, filters are placed over camera lenses in order to enhance the quality of the image or to achieve creative effects. For example, photographers can use glare reduction filters, color enhancement filters, contrast increasing filters and so on and so forth. While the photography object or scene itself hasn’t changed, the filter will alter the image that’s produced.

Our perceptions of reality are produced in a similar way. Buddhism has long taught that we don’t see things as they truly are, but through layers of conditioning. Neuroscience has only validated this ancient insight by telling us that perception is not a raw recording of reality but a construction that’s shaped by attention, emotion, language, memory and prediction. These filters are often useful (i.e., they help us navigate our world fairly efficiently), but they can also distort reality in ways that lead to unnecessary stress and anxiety. What ultimately matters is training our ability to notice when our filters are operating—and to discern whether they’re operating in ways that don’t contribute to our happiness, freedom and well-being.

PRACTICAL EXAMPLE:

Imagine you’re rushing to finish a critical project before a looming deadline. Because of the pressure you’re feeling, you’ve got a “stressed filter” on without your realizing it. A teammate passes by and remarks: “Are you still working on that?” The words themselves are neutral, but they sound derisive to you through your filter. Because of this perception, you respond curtly…and the interaction becomes strained. The reality was your colleague actually wanted to convey their concern, but the stress filter turned the encounter into a challenging one.

SUGGESTED PRACTICE:

Sit quietly and attend to your breath. After a minute or so, recall a recent or a memorable situation in which you saw things from a filter—and the filter led to needless stress and anxiety. Notice what it felt like in your body when the filter was in place. Notice what emotions and feelings accompanied the filter. Name what consequences followed from having that filter in place at the time. In hindsight, what was “actually” happening in that situation? What did your filter add? What can you do differently if the situation were to happen again in the future?

REFLECTION PROMPTS:

1. What filter altered your perception in the situation that you recalled?
2. How did reacting through this filter increase your suffering and those of others around you?
3. What practical step can you take this week to pause and check: “Am I seeing the thing ‘itself’ or through a filter?”

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

While this doesn’t strictly fall under the topic of filters, a number of you talked about anger and how this emotion isn’t generally seen in a favorable light. In response to this, I shared a few perspectives on anger that I learned from studying the work of the emotions researcher Karla McLaren. You can find some of her beautiful reflections on anger here.