Martha Beck writes in "Leaving the Saints"….. After a family therapy session where Martha remained the one lone family member willing to see abuse.." I could see that my siblings' truth, as well as that of all other Latter-Day Saints, would always be based on group consensus. I read psychology tests about the effects of socialization on perception, pondered the famous experiments by Solomon Asch that demonstrated how subjects who didn't know they were being tested changed their perceptions in order to agree with other people. Shown two lines, one long, one short, in the company of people who all claimed that the lines were of equal length, the naive subjects almost always agreed with the majority, rather than the evidence of their own senses. They not only said that the lines were equal; they often came to actually SEE them as being equal."
What is alarming and comforting at the same time, is that my family isn't any different from the test folks, who automatically side with the majority. That very few will use the evidence of their senses and stand alone.
She also wrote about losing her family, " It would have been less painful to lose my family to war or natural disaster; less shame, less confusion, less personalized energy. I did lose them you see. I've never really been back. Though there isn't an official "no contact" rule between us, my siblings and I stopped most communication after that bloody battle. I hear from other relatives that I am the black sheep now, the traitor to our family's code, the enemy of every thing we once stood for together…."
And the last few lines that caught my attention…"Sometimes I think there is not enough room in the Universe for the sorrow of that exile."
Being exiled from your family for going against the majority vote.
Tag: senses
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The Majority Vote.
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Dance Going On Inside!
Sight challenged isn’t just for those whose physical eyes have technical problems and hearing challenged isn’t for those who can’t hear sounds.
I am thinking there is a much larger Sense Challenge going on, where most are not connected to their own bodies.
It is amazing when you are connected to your senses how much there is to feel, see and hear.
As I did my yoga on the river yesterday my senses were overrun with sensations a feast so large that you can only sample a little at a time.
My eyes were witness to wildlife along the river banks, to the flies dancing on the river, to those buzzing and landing nearby, to clouds slowly making their way across the sky adjusting their formations as they move along, to floating butterflies coming by to see how my poses were going.
My body felt the heat of the noonday sun, the relief of the gentle breeze, the coolness of the water I sipped, to the uneven ground I stepped upon, to the stretching muscles, the concentrated balance, to aches and sharp pains of a body unaligned, to the relaxed breath in between poses.
My ears picked up the concert of birds singing loudly competing with Bikram’s voice, the distant sound of cars, the loud splashes of the beaver delightfully playing, the wind in the leaves…
And behind all of the senses is a feeling of awareness.
It is the awareness that makes the other senses come alive.
Without awareness the whole orchestration of the Universe goes unnoticed.
The more you see the more you see.
The more you hear the more you hear.
The more you feel the more you feel.
Our bodies are used to appreciate the Universe and I believe there is a whole other Universe inside of us.
There is an echoing dance going on inside!
I M Perfect lady 