“I hate long flights.”

“I’m sorry!”

“Long flights! I hate them. One has got nothing to do other than eating, sleeping and watching movies.”

“One can have a good conversation.”

“I don’t think so. Two people cannot converse on a single topic for a long time.”

“But two people can converse on several topics.”

“For example?”

“For a start, we can talk about you!”

“ Well, I am not an interesting person to talk about.”

“And I always thought that one cannot decide for oneself.”

“True again! But people do have perceptions about themselves.”

“Perception changes from person to person. Everybody wouldn’t think about you in the same way.”

“People don’t percept, people conclude and they confuse conclusion with perception.

“Can you give an example?”

“Not an example, I can share an incident. I was waiting for a train at a railway station once. There was this well dressed man, middle aged, sitting on a bench few benches ahead of me. He was worried about something. He would stand up, look around, look under the table and sit again. It seemed like he had lost his wallet or something. After few moments, some people also began to help him. Nobody knew what to find. The man was continuously telling them that he had lost something. Finally a policeman arrived and told everyone that the person claiming to have lost something was a mad man and he was looking for something he lost years ago.”

“That’s hilarious!”

“Yes, to many. But, I learnt the difference between perception and conclusion. People saw a man searching something and concluded that he had lost something and decided to help him finding it.”

“Yes, that’s a good perception.”

“Not perception, its observation.”

“Then what is perception according to you? I would like to know about another incident describing perception.”

“To avoid unnecessary confusion, perception is what it is. You have your way of looking at things and incidents, I have mine.”

“But still, an example might be of a great help!”

“Ok, not an example again, I’ll share another very popular incident. Once three blind men were asked to inspect an elephant. The first person touched elephant’s feet and concluded that an elephant is like a huge pillar. The second person touched elephant’s trunk and concluded that elephant is a big rope. The third person touched elephant’s tail and concluded that elephant is a thin rope. Different people have different perception.”

“So what is your perception?”

“About what?”

“About yourself.”

“Tricky question! People might have perception about me, I cannot have a perception about myself.”

“So what is it that you have for yourself?”

“A vision.”

“So, you want to change yourself.”

“Pardon!”

“You said you have a vision about yourself. A self vision is what you want to become in future, someone which you are not now.”

“I must say you have good observation skills.”

“Thank you, but I don’t agree with the idea of having a self vision. I believe one should have a self perception, positive one, rather than a self vision.”

“It’s my turn to ask for an example!”

“Well, simply put, a vision exists in the future whereas perception is related to the present moment. Perception is what we think about ourselves right now, and our perception pretty much decides the course of our life in the future. Therefore, having a vision is a good thing but a positive vision is a negative expectation if you don’t have a positive perception about yourself.”

“That’s a heavy thought to think about.”

“Indeed it is.”

“I am actually having a realization that I was wrong all this time I have lived so far with a positive vision about my life rather than a positive perception about myself at the present moment.”

“I am sorry to be a reason about your realization but the words ‘vision’ and ‘realization’ are not quite appropriate because there is no difference between the knower and the known. Perception is based on what you know about yourself. Both perception and vision are based on our thoughts and thoughts are the sign of ignorance. In knowing there is no thought, you just know, you are the knower. You won’t get anywhere if you keep thinking, you have to know it and knowing is knowledge.”

“You are saying that I am the knower when I have the knowledge and if I have the knowledge, I don’t need the vision or perception. Is it so?”

“Yes. If you have the knowledge, you already know what you’ll end up being. Even if knowledge is not there, one should be trying to know rather than perceiving or visioning. A new born child has no knowledge of the world, he views the world without any language or words. That is direct and pure vision. If you can do that, you are going in the right direction, because such pure vision brings knowledge itself. Its like a piece of magnet attracts pieces of iron from soil, same way a pure vision words, knowledge comes to you automatically. The only condition is that you should be present, aware, be there.”

“Wow, I think I understand it now. We have to exist this simply. We have to do nothing and just be there. Everything will start happening automatically!”

“And that which will happen will be something that cannot be put into words.”

“I, too, think so.”

“I don’t think there is anything left for discussion.”

“I agree, lets stop this discussion right here and just be.”