Seeing Through Screens.

It’s interesting to observe how much we assess people differently once we become emotionally involved with them. It’s as though we have two screens through which we view everybody. The one through which we see people in general is largely objective, and composed of reason, experience and instinct. But when emotional involvement takes hold, a second screen slips down behind the first and adds a further refractive element to the view. It’s the subjective screen, composed of personal needs and augmented by old scars, fears and insecurities.

It seems inevitable that this second screen should exist. It contributes in its own way to the richness of life; it’s an essential part of what gives life its colour. And this is especially true of the sensitive people who search for the ideal, who see through the surface, who make extended connections, who have a soft underbelly or Achilles heel, who feel things keenly and sometimes irrationally. It’s how they’re made, and the second screen comes with the territory.

But it causes problems because it shifts the perception of reality when viewing the object of connection. The brain argues incessantly with the heart, and getting the balance right is well nigh impossible. And all the wit and wisdom in the world can never be enough to stop the struggle.

Thought for the morning. Lunchtime.