Kind Eyes See Farther

There is increasing scientific evidence that our consciousness has a tremendous creative impact - not only on how we perceive the world, but also on the objective reality of how the world actually exists around us.

This is a powerful and somewhat startling revelation, and it’s easy to be skeptical of such claims - as they border on the realm of science fiction. After all, outside of some Avengers X Men movie - who can really control the world with just their mind?

And yet…. there is increasing evidence that not only are we constantly creating a neural network that completely colors and primes our own internal view of reality - but that neural network in turn actively shapes the outer reality around us. Jennice Vilhauer Ph.D., writing in Psychology Today, explains that

Because the brain's selective filtering system, often referred to as priming, works on an activation/inhibition model, when the brain is primed by a certain belief to look for something, it shuts down competing neural networks, so you actually have a hard time seeing evidence to the contrary of an already existing belief. That’s why people who are depressed see a more depressing world. It’s also why you are so convinced that your view of the world is the “truth.” What most people don’t realize is they are participating in creating their own version of the truth.

There is a great movie scene in Deadpool where Ryan Reynold’s character is interviewing potential team members about their superpowers, and one girl -Domino shows up, and her super power is Luck. At first Reynolds is incredulous! How could Luck be a super Power? Well - as the movie unfolds, it turns out that luck is a tremendous asset to have on hand, especially as all hell is breaking loose. According to fandom Wiki page:

Domino has the mutant ability to subconsciously and psionically initiate random telekinetic acts that affect probability in her favor by making improbable (but not impossible) things occur within her line of sight, thus causing her to have "good luck" and her opponents to have "bad luck." This phenomenon can be anything from an enemy's equipment failure to hitting just the right switch with a stray shot to shut down an overloading nuclear reactor. Her powers can also be applied to non-kinetic improbable events, such as guessing an encrypted vault code on her first try. Her abilities also stem from her own actions, and as a byproduct, Domino’s abilities give her enhanced reflexes, senses, and physical mobility.

While the ability to cloak one’s path in a force field of Luck is indeed a massive super power, I believe radiating Kindness has a wider force field in that it is deliberately projected towards others as a force of blessing and progress. Of course it might be a while before a movie character is selected to join the Avenger’s team based on their super power of Kindness!

Someday though, as we better appreciate the radiating power of kindness, it might become an Avenger super power.! Kindness or blessing - while religious terms - can be thought of as any boon that a super-hero brings home after their hero’s journey.

In his famous book The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949), Joseph Campbell describes the narrative pattern as follows:

A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man.

The best way to really understand the power of Luck and Kindness is to put them to work! Spend today in an atmosphere of Luck and Kindness. Luck is born out of gratitude, and Kindness out of seeing others with eyes of empathy and encouragement. Magnetically polarize your pathway for luck, and practice radiating kindness outwards to people and events. As discussed, when your own neural network begins to re-align along pathways of Luck and Kindness - not only will you start to perceive your world as luckier and kinder - it will actually start to become luckier and kinder!