Of interpretations, reality and other cracks in human communication

Things happen, I say. Not able to say who has caused them, because that would start out as a looking-for-a-reason, but inevitably end up in finger pointing. I say, Life happens. I say that a lot, not yet sure how I feel about it, though. That covers my view on everything, regardless. It must show in my own interpretations of reality, then. As a person of a restless eye and mind, for that matter, I am intrigued by the simplest things that happen around me and if I have the photo with me, I take pictures of the weirdest things. Lately, majority of those are cracks in the roads I am walking. There is just something about their unpredictable, man-influence-free nature that seduces me. Yet, they all resemble each other, where ever I take them. May it be Krakow, Reykjavik, Berlin, Stockholm, Malta, Porto, Barcelona or Kobarid.  However, when I take pictures of moments that are not only cracks in the asphalt, I am not looking for any kind of reasoning as why it happened or what it represents. On the opposite, I take them the way they are and there is always a certain thought they provoked, a memory or look-a-like resemblance. I found out, the image is always embedded in a context. The kind that is taken for granted or we are just used to see them together supporting each other. There is a natural go-along relation between them. I am all about context and a message it supports, that is why I like to change it, twist it or simply turn it upside down. By that, the original message gets stronger, clearer or it creates a new meaning completely. But then it does not matter, if I emphasize or diminish it. I am not interested in that. Nor am I interested in interpretations people make, because they, too, happen anyways. People will always try to grasp the thought behind them and assume conclusions. That is a magic side of Reality I call human state of mind.

Now, interpretation of reality is a topic worth writing about. Or should I say misinterpretations based on assumption to understand.

We all had conversations with people that we misinterpreted, especially, when it comes to internet communication. The chances of taking something the wrong way are even greater when two people do not share same skill of thought expression or language level is not the same. What is more, we all took some action the wrong way. Misjudged the situation or assumed the reason behind it. I found really early in my life, I cannot know what is going on in someone else´s mind. Actions are caused by different reasons, a handful of those having a higher probability of being true based on the past experiences and basic human behavior. In general, I dislike assumption and judgments. I live by the rule, if you want to be understood, say or explain yourself. In case a person does not do that, I will not go around rumbling in my head what he tried to say. I refuse to read between the lines. That does not mean, I am not able to, it means I won´t. However, it is easier said then done, when emotions are involved. Nevertheless interpretations are real. But they do not always describe Reality. Most of the time, they are simply not true. May it be as it is they always make our personal Reality, which still does not make it real. Actions based on those conclusions, however, do. So in a way, our personal interpretation creates Reality. That is a dangerous weapon.  Human ego is looking for a reason for it not to change. It wants to stay in its comfort zone of reality that supports its reasoning. So admitting reality is not the way we imagined is a hard thing to accept. What is more discouraging than finding you weren´t right?

We live in the world we interpret.

Wittgenstein said in his Tractacus Logico-Philosophicus: “The world is everything that is the case.” This is the first sentence. He supposedly got the idea for it in the middle of the battlefield in the First World War. According to the legend surrounding it, he sat down in the middle of the battle and started writing, miraculously not getting shot. He then developed philosophy through six chapters, one going deeper into human understanding of Reality than the latter. His last chapter, however, consists of one sentence only: "Whereof one cannot speak, thereof one must be silent.” The question remaining is, what do we actually know? Francis Garagnon wrote: “Between what I think I want to say, what I believe I'm saying, what I say, what you want to hear, what you believe you understand, and what you understood, there are at least nine possibilities for misunderstanding" If there is 50:50 chance of me getting it all wrong and I do, get it wrong; how greater are the chances to get it right, when there is 1:9 chance to get it wrong? Is there anything we can speak of, when it comes to understanding a fellow human being? Is there a reason to do it in the first place? Isn´t it simpler to just take words, as they were said, actions, as they were done and decisions, as they were made? If a person says a lie, doesn´t that make it our Reality? If it is a lie only he knows of, does that make us naïve, for believing him? Or does it simply make him a liar? If he wants to conceal truth, what is there for us to know? And if he is unable to tell it, does not find the words or is simply scared to say it, will he not, then, try a way to explain it, when the time is right? What the rush? Why the need? As with everything else, that too is reality. That too happens.

I wish it would be simple as that. That communication would be as a picture with a subject and the context surrounding it. The problem is, context is human mind. And that, by definition is not a state but an ever-changing and ever-evolving web that includes all experiences a person had in his life. How am I to change that? How am I to know them all. I believe, there is no reason for me even to try to. It is that Reason that is the problem; the need to know. I was not placed on this Earth to understand you or to be understood. If I want something, I say it. If I need something, I take it. If I want to be understood, I explain myself. And i expect you to do the same. As long as I am not hurting anyone, I am playing a safe game. And if I sometimes hurt someone, then believe me, he saw it coming!

And there is that.