Milk in a green glass.

I want to tell you a story. It is not anything spectacular. It may not even belong here because it is not about conspiracies, UFOs, magic, survival, or other ATS type things; yet it may be a little about all those things.

While looking for something that I knew I had, but had boxed away a long time ago, I found a box filled with old glasses. I had put them away when the children were little and were prone to dropping anything breakable that found itself in their tiny hands. For their safety (glass shards travel mighty distances and their recovery almost always involves pain, blood and tears) I boxed up all the glassware and out came the paper and plastic.

I had forgotten the boxes of glassware I had put aside, and decided that it would be enjoyable to have some of my more favorite glasses back in use again. I don’t know why, but some things just taste better when imbibed from glass rather than paper or plastic. It is all in the mind of course which soon proved itself to be very true.

My young nephew had a short school day recently. I had the pleasure of keeping him out of mischief until his mother was able to pick him up after work. In the mean time I had to provide him with a snack to hold him over until dinner and he agreed to a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with milk. Since he was now the ripe old age of seven, I thought that he was old enough and hopefully mature enough to enjoy a beverage from real glass. I was surprised when he arrived at the table after washing his hands with such a look of befuddlement on his face.

He asked me, “Auntie what is that?” I was a bit taken aback. I couldn’t believe that he did not know what a glass was. I said to him, “Zack, that is a glass.” “Haven’t you ever seen a glass before?” I had to laugh when he replied, “Yes Auntie, but what is in it?” I told him that it was milk. This brought about that same look of puzzlement that children have mastered, with that special turn of the lip and brow. “Auntie?" "What kind of milk is it?” Then it became clear to me. He was seeing the milk through the glass. Since the glass was green, he thought the milk was also green. Of course I laughed and this made it even an odder moment for my nephew because he did not see the humor in my laughing at him for not knowing where green milk came from. After all he had his pride and he was all of seven years old.

I decided to see how far I could take this moment, so I told him to taste it and tell me where he thought it may come from. He was very hesitant but he was watching me drink mine and I made it look like it was pure ambrosia. He still had not gotten any closer to the table so I took the straw from his glass and put it into mine. I held out my glass to him making sure my hand covered the top and told him to take a sip. He did. “So?”, I asked him. “What does it taste like?” He didn’t surprise me when he said, “I don’t know.” “It kinda taste like real milk but I know that it is something else.” I asked him why did he think it was something else. He told me because it was green.

I have thought a lot about our lunch since it happened. I find myself asking how much of what I “think” or what I “believe” is true. How much of what I think I see dictates what I accept as truth. I admit that it has led me to moments of self reflection and some things are leaning closer to the edge of doubt.

I now run all new information through the milk glass filter. I am hoping that this will in some way help me remember that things are not always how they look or are presented and that even when taken in without interference that it may still be contaminated by what I have already “thought” to be true.

Its just placebo effect.

I recently reviewed a song on a reviewing website, all songs are anonymous until you review them and its supposed to be for unsigned artists to get feedback. So I reviewed this song and it sounded kinda cool but I was saying you could do this this and this and make it a bit better. I thought it was good but not really amazing.

Anyway the next day I searched the lyrics from the song I reviewed on Google and discovered it was Party rock anthem by LMFAO. Since I discovered it was by them the song sounds perfect and I think its great.

But thats pure evidence that as soon as something (their name) is associated to a product people percieve it to be better or just automatically good.

My friend once told me that his dad was buying a new car he said it was a 'S320'. He didnt know to much about cars but said he didnt really like the sound of a S320 and wanted his dad to buy something more flashy. Anyway I told him that it was actually a Mercedes BEnz and from that moment on I never heard the end of it, baring in mind he hadnt even seen what the car looked like.

What a great post! S&F. It reminds me that not so long ago, the earth was flat. That was the "truth" and everyone knew it.

Jello

There was a recent study with unflavored but colored jello. Children and adults both thought the jello tasted like what the color represented. Keep in mind it was unflavored.

Thank you for sharing this great story. Gotta love the honesty of the young ones.

I agree that everything in our lives can be seen from so many different perspectives. Who's to say what's "correct"?
Are we correct in saying that the grass is green and the sky is blue? Or perhaps the dog is correct in saying the grass is dark grey and the sky is lighter grey. (dogs being color blind and all).
And on top of that, the color spectrum is only a tiny tiny fraction of everything. Perhaps everything should really be seen in infrared?
And of course this spawns off to any topics, not just color.

Your story reminds me of when I used to be younger (around 13ish).I would always question everything and argue logical reasoning for why I believed every-day things really weren't say ordinary.

I must ask though, how did your nephew react when you revealed the truth about the milk?

reply to post by NightSkyeB4Dawn


what an excellent story, and well written too. it is good to be reminded of how our perception may alter our point of view. i always enjoyed how comedian George Carlin seemed to view the world. putting on different glasses, so as to speak, can be so refreshing, especially to tired old eyes.

years ago i noticed it may be helpful when trying to locate a mis-placed everyday object to alter one's physical viewpoint. things take on a different angle when you look about the room on your knees or seated at the table, as opposed to standing and peering about.

now if i could only remember what it was i was after when i went to the basement, i'd really be set!

reply to post by QuantumPhysicist


I didn’t tell him the truth, not really. I took down one of the red glasses from the cupboard and let him watch me pour the milk into the red glass and set it on the table next to mine. He said, “Ahh, Auntie.” “You joked me.” “It “is” real milk.” “You were just teasing me.“ I asked him what did he learn. He told me he learned that if you pour milk in a red glass it looks red and if you pour milk in a green glass it looks green. I said okay. What else did you learn. He said he learned a cool trick and he was going to show his mother when she came to get him. He made me swear I would not say anything to his mother to let her know he was playing a trick.

Mothers being mothers, she went along with his game and she played her role well. She even playfully scolded him for tricking his mother like that. He tried to play contrite by saying he was sorry, but that wide grin on his face belied any feeling of true remorse. And Zack being Zack is a guarantee that it will not be the last time that he will try to trick his mother or anyone else given the opportunity.

reply to post by NightSkyeB4Dawn

That's ironic. I have a friend who refuses to drink milk from a plastic glass. I repeatedly tell him, the milk comes out of a plastic jug. Doesn't matter the block is there.

Maybe unrelated but the other day I was drinking what I thought was going to be iced tea, it was a soda. What a shock, made my cheeks pucker. I like them both. Just my mind was ready for iced tea. What a disappointment.

reply to post by LargeFries


I love George Carlin. He really did have a talent for seeing things the way they really are versus the way we have been programmed to see them.

Sometimes it is easier to accept truths when they are covered in a more palatable medium. Staring truth in the face can be a scary and sometimes dangerous endeavor.

reply to post by timewalker


I really believe that we under estimate the power of thought. If what we think formulates that which we believe, it would seem that we should have the ability to make significant changes in our world by controlling what and how we think.

I know their are a million plus books that are suppose to teach us how to manipulate our world with the power of thought alone but it doesn't seem to have the desired outcome for most of us.

At least I have not been able to master the technique. If it works for others they either aren't giving out the recipe or they holding back one or more of the secret ingredients.

I once picked up a handful of what I thought were purple grapes, in a dimly lit room, and stuffed them in my mouth. Turned out they were black olives, which I love, but at the time I almost puked.

reply to post by NightSkyeB4Dawn
Hi op or should I call you morning twilite ...Great post,well maybe not great but very good ...s&f ....its like conformational bias ...we do need to observe ourselves,and refocus ...coloured glases and all that stuff ...I leave this remaning post with a question ? If we cant trust the green glass,then what colour glass can we trust ? or maybe there are greay areas?!....peace ....ps I think the podcast is full but needs to be finished ... Its their MO and what usually happens after the facts ,[follow the money] it sums up well what we need to think about before passing judgement ..But as we pursue the truth we do develop our opinions as to who,what,when, and why these things happen ... " the latest revelations by former counter terrorism czar Richard Clarke and his explosive allegations against three former top CIA officials – George Tenet, Cofer Black and Richard Blee – accusing them of knowingly withholding intelligence about two of the 9/11 hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who had entered the United States more than a year before the attacks. He provides us with the most comprehensive history and context to date on Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, who hijacked American Airlines Flight 77 with three other terrorists and flew the jetliner directly into the Pentagon killing 189 people. Mr. Thompson takes us through a mind-boggling journey through the Yemen Hub, the highly critical Malaysia Summit, Thailand, USS Cole bombing, CIA’s Alec Station, NSA, FBI and beyond!" www.boilingfrogspost.com...

reply to post by the2ofusr1


Wow! That is a lot of reading!

I glanced over some of the offerings and I will admit I was a bit intrigued by the song by Leonard Cohen. I had not heard of him before. I may check out a few of his other songs. I don't know if they are in the same vein but this one was interesting,

See I am still trying to evaluate the milk and ignoring the glass.

reply to post by Doodle19815

This may be related to the study you gave a link to...

Can Food Coloring Affect Perception of Taste? [ABC: 5-17-2011]



A fascinating phenomenon that I hope we can put to better use in the future.

not knowing what it is before hand. we all come into knowledge with some type of presupposition. i often wonder what images and understanding we attach to objects before even knowing what the object really is. same can be said for issues and people. it is so very hard not to pass judgement.

reply to post by Lawgiver


You are right. I think we are born into this world with very little knowledge of anything. The only things that we know are things that we feel and things that are instinctual.

We know basic sensations like; hot, warm, cold, hunger, thirst, wet, pleasure and pain. We don’t know the names of these things, but we know the feelings. Instinctually we know to suckle and that putting something in our mouths will reduce the thirst and maybe the hunger. We know that snuggling with another person provides warmth and is pleasing.

Practically everything beyond that is taught. We learn by information given to us by another, by personal experience and if you are one of the lucky people by vicarious experiences.

With learning experiences we always bring all the information that came before, whether learned or instinctual, so every learning experience is contaminated to a degree. I don’t think it is possible to have a pure learning experience. I don’t think it is possible for us to turn ourselves off to the things that we have accepted as real or true.

Wouldn’t you have to have a complete break with reality to achieve that state of being and what would be the benefit or the outcome? Would we be able to fly if we didn’t believe that it is impossible to do so? And what of that tricky little thing that we call gravity? Could we believe it away? I think that the power of the mind is an awesome thing but I think that while knowledge can be a dangerous thing a lack of knowledge can be just as dangerous if not more so.

I would be more than happy to be proved wrong on this.

Originally posted by NightSkyeB4Dawn
reply to post by timewalker

 

I really believe that we under estimate the power of thought. If what we think formulates that which we believe, it would seem that we should have the ability to make significant changes in our world by controlling what and how we think.

I know their are a million plus books that are suppose to teach us how to manipulate our world with the power of thought alone but it doesn't seem to have the desired outcome for most of us.

At least I have not been able to master the technique. If it works for others they either aren't giving out the recipe or they holding back one or more of the secret ingredients.

The second part of your signature "2. You teach people how to treat you." brought this to mind. The power of thought can change the world. At least on a psychological level with those around you and more than likely on a physical level too. This is a tried and true method that I use myself quite often.

To quote an old book.

Polarity ~ all things have their equal and opposites but are just degrees of the same. Good and bad. At what degree does something change from good to bad? Love and hate. Cold or hot, where does something change from what we call cold to what we call hot. Just degrees of the same.

I am around people who seem to be in a negative mood quite often, misery loves company right? But if you focus on the opposite end of the pole, the negativity seems to leave the building. I guess where I am going is if you let others see and feel the distress within you, it feeds the fire.

For instance just today, so and so was saying "what this person does makes no sense to me", I said well you have been saying that to that person for years, has it changed anything or just made that person mad at you? "Makes them mad". Well, then your swimming against the tide. Why not just say have a good time?

Believe in the little things and you can can change the world.

"For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am known." (I Corinthians)

did she just say she was laffing at her kid for not knowing something some won arrest here damnit i need a zapping button i can hear it a cry for help but where to go