End of Want

            “Do you see things, Mr. Granger?” The psychologist asked.

            “I don’t understand the point of that question,” Mr. Granger responded, raising himself up from the old leather couch to change his focus from the beige, cracked ceiling tiles to the psychologist’s phosphorescent irises. “We live our entire lives in our heads, whether or not we know it.  Our life experiences are all interpretations of what is going on as it is presented to our brain by our senses, or nerves. The gathering, interpretation, translation, and retention all occur inside the brain of the individual, and this IS a very subjective thing, this reality. 

            Everything we see, do, think, feel, is simply a manifestation of electric and chemical signals sent between neurons in a cranium. That’s it, as far as we know. People may argue for a collective intelligence or experience, but no, that isn’t what really happens, if anything could be said to really happen. Suppose I kick this couch here, before I sit on it. I kick it hard enough to fracture three of my toes. Do you feel the pain of my toes being fractured, or is it just me? I am the only one experiencing the pain at that moment, the only one feeling the frustration of bringing injury upon myself yet again because of my own carelessness. I imagine you can sympathize with me, but I do not sympathize with myself. The experiences are not the same, but similar.

            So, given that what we take to be reality is purely a mental construction from the get-go, what does it matter if one brain embellishes a bit? Who is to say that the brain is not embellishing the stimuli, but rather catching and reacting to stimuli that other brains have merely missed? Can you be sure that you are experiencing the totality of what could possibly be experienced in this very office? You spend so much time here, but would it be too outrageous to think that you have perhaps skipped some aspects, and that I or some other person that comes through this office could pick up on those aspects your brain has glossed over, be it as some method of protection of the psyche or simply an act of absentmindedness?

            Perhaps the question you should be asking is not whether or not I am seeing things, but whether or not you are missing things.  You cannot hope to understand or control me completely. The only thing you can truly come to understand, control, and help is yourself. However, as I am part of your reality, it could be that I can be helped by you by proxy, I guess.