Page 76 - The Evil Called Mockery

74 THE EVIL CALLED MOCKERY

original sight or smell of that rose that exists outside.
To us, the "external world" is a collection of the electrical sig-
nals reaching our brains simultaneously. Our brains process these
signals, and some people live without recognizing how mistaken
they are in assuming that these are the actual, original versions of
matter existing in the "external world." They are misled, because by
means of our senses, we can never reach the matter itself.
Again, our brain interprets and attributes meanings to the sig-
nals related to the "external world" of which people imagine they
are in contact with the original that exists outside. Consider the
sense of hearing, for example. In fact, our brain interprets and trans-
forms sound waves reaching our ear into symphonies. That is to
say, we know music as interpreted by our brain, not the original
music that exists outside. In the same manner, when we see colors,
different wavelengths of light are all that reaches our eyes, and our
brain transforms these wavelengths into colors. The colors in the
"external world" are unknown to us. We can never have direct ex-
perience of the true red of an apple, the true blue of the sky or the
true green of trees. The external world depends entirely on the per-
ceiver.
Even the slightest defect in the eye's retina can cause color
blindness. Some people perceive blue as green, others red as blue,
and still others see all colors as different tones of gray. At this point,
it no longer matters whether the outside object is colored or not.

The World of Senses Can Occur Without Outside
World's Existence
One factor which reveals that everything we see and experi-
ence exists in our brain and that we can never know the original of
the matter that exists outside is that we do not need an outside