I am cautious about trusting vision. I’m even somewhat distrustful and critical of my own vision. What my eyes see is often misleading. What I see around me is an interpretation, not truly an accurate representation. My eyes may work just fine, but my brain interprets what my eyes see. That interpretation is highly influenced by past experience. I only “see” what makes sense to me, which usually means how it corresponds to what I have experienced in the past.
Actually, I see with my mind, not with my eyes. And my mind can be misled, influenced and shaped by what happened in the past. I want to be able to see beyond what my eyes see, beyond the nerve impulses that come from my retinas, beyond the photons bouncing off the world around me.
The same is true of what others say and represent to me. I am cautious of what others tell me, especially if it involves the vision others have had. I am cautious about what others tell me about what is true, about how the world exists, even about what they have experienced.
I am very cautious about ritualized and written expressions of reality, as I experience in my Sangha. It is easier for me to listen to someone explaining their own experience than to listen to a written account of what is real. I resist accepting what someone else has written, especially someone who has established themselves in a position of authority. The vision of someone else is inherently flawed, just as my own vision can be flawed. What their eyes see can be misleading, especially if they are influenced by a point of view. I am especially critical of anyone who speaks from a position of authority, real or imagined.
I am least cautious about trusting my own vision, especially the internal vision that provides me a critical view of the world. My mind is critical, it is my ally, it is the vision I trust most.