Page 76 - The Evil Called Mockery
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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
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