A filter is a porous device for removing impurities or solid particles from a liquid or gas passed through it. We borrow that word and use it in KHTK in a more general sense as follows.
Filter is a device that is selective in what it lets through. It is designed to block out things that are supposedly unwanted.
A colored glass acts as a filter in that it is selective about what frequencies of light it lets through. It blocks all other frequencies. Similarly, our thinking may act as a filter and it may let only those thoughts through with which there is some agreement. In KHTK, anything that influences perception is looked upon as a filter.
When the viewpoint influences the perceptions of a person it is acting as a filter.
A viewpoint consists of a person’s physical location as well as his mental position determined by experience, education, thinking and considerations.
A physical location obviously influences the angle from which one perceives. The experiences get stored and interpret incoming perceptions. Education from home, school and culture provides ideas with which to assess incoming information. Thinking makes one associate the data one has in a certain way. Considerations sets themselves as bias, prejudices, fixed ideas, etc., that directly filter one’s perception.
Thus, the world might appear very different to a person from what it actually is. The actions one takes may not be optimum for the situations one encounters in life. This may have a lot to do with the conditions a person finds himself in.
Examining the contents of this filter may help resolve unwanted conditions in one’s life.
The components of the viewpoint are tightly interwoven into each other like many strands in a rope. Mindfulness exercises can help one look at this filter objectively and become aware of hidden influences.
Hidden influences lose their power as they are brought into awareness.
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