The World You See Doesn’t Even Exist
And Why That’s Awesome
I learned this eye-opening story in Chinese elementary school textbooks. Digging deeper, the idea behind the story has the potential to free you from the upsets life throws at you.
In an art class, students were drawing a starfruit. Mei’s odd, squashed drawing sparked roaring laughter. “That’s no starfruit!” a boy jeered. Mei shrank, cheeks burning. Ms. Li said, “Take her seat.” The loudest boy sat, then froze—the starfruit matched Mei’s painting exactly.
“What appears as the world is only thought. When the world is perceived, the mind is active. Where there is no mind, there is no world.”
—Ramana Maharshi (Talk 244)
The world you see doesn’t exist for it is a unique projection shaped by the personal ego—a perception filtered through limitation, past experiences, learned memories, values, emotions, and opinions.
What we call “the world” is not an objective reality, but a subjective interpretation arising within consciousness. Every student’s drawing represents a single point of view of the starfruit, but none of them is the starfruit itself.
If you believe your perception of the world is reality, it’s like the boy in the story believing his drawing is the fruit itself, and Mei’s is not. You can easily tell the boy is obviously ignorant.
But can you easily tell you are ignorant when you get upset over something, believing your perception is objective reality?
“The world you see is meaningless because it is seen through eyes that cannot see.”
— A Course in Miracles, Workbook for Students, Lesson 12
This is awesome because when you know your perception is like the moon reflected on pond water—unreal and impossible to grasp—you’re free to let it go and return to your natural inner peace and joy.
In practicality, it all comes down to this prayer: Holy Spirit, help me to see this differently. (Feel free to change “Holy Spirit” to any higher power you like.)