But "seeing" and "projection" are central to this issue of conditioning.
They are aspects regarding the issue of conditioning, but they are not central to the issue of conditioning. "Seeing" is central only when it is explicitly stated that considerations are being restricted to the vision context.
That was made pretty clear by the fact that his claim involves vision, but it also extends into other contexts.
But, even then, "projection" is an unnecessary term. Words are spoken, thought, or written when they are used; spoken words are said to be projected as a way describing when a speaker (or singer) has his or her voice heard at a distance without having to scream.
He is using the word projection correctly and in context. He explains very clearly how the brain works as a movie projector, which is why the eyes cannot be considered a sense organ.
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The answer to this problem is to remove everything from the environment that makes one person feel superior or inferior over differences that are nothing but a projection of our realistic imagination. In other words, all words that project personal likes and dislikes onto the screen of undeniable substance, which then creates a standard for everyone, must be removed for this problem to be solved. These words have become so ingrained in our culture that it is necessary for me to clarify, once again, why they are not a symbol of reality and why they must become obsolete.
If a girl should design a dress, just as an artist paints a portrait, and you see that this dress stands out above all other dresses, this does not mean it is a wonderful or beautiful dress. It is a dress that stands out for you. By using such words, you make it appear that this girl has created something that partakes of a value called wonderful or beautiful, but in actual reality, all that we know as a matter of mathematical knowledge is that you like what she is wearing. It is important to remember that there are no external values by themselves. Other differences, such as money and food, are not in the same category as the word “beauty.” Because they do exist externally and because they are liked by all mankind, they have external value. But money and food, though they exist externally, have value for us only because we desire them. However, where the words “beautiful” and “wonderful” project our personal feelings about a particular thing, as if what we like exists that way in the external world for others, the words “food” and “money” do not. Our values do not exist as part of the external world, yet despite this, because our eyes are not a sense organ, and because our brain is also a movie projector, among other things, we are able to record these feelings on slides or words and then project them, through our eyes, onto the screen of the outside world. Then we photograph these feelings, which we now see in relation to certain specific differences, and thereafter, when we project the word, we actually see with our eyes these values as existing outside of us.
I'm not sure where that helps when you add "to respond to what is not part of reality."
Because the response to the projected word is not part of reality, but we are conditioned to seeing it as reality.
The phrase "respond to" replaces "see" in order to concentrate on the fact that conditioning affects responses beyond just seeing and its associated interpretation. Likewise "use" replaces "projection" to more properly capture the breadth of the power which words can have - a power that is present even when words are not projected but are, instead, merely thought, for instance.
This claim that the eyes are not a sense organ is specifically related to how words are projected onto the screen of reality. He was not using the word "condition" in any other context.
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It is true, however, that we are so conditioned by these words that even their removal will not make us like someone more who appeals to us less. But when children are brought up without ever hearing these words, there is no telling whom they might be attracted to without being adversely judged. For example, if two boys decide to approach two girls having never been conditioned with words like “beautiful” and “ugly,” they might be attracted, without envy, each to the other, but when their heads are filled with fallacious standards of value that have been concealed in words, it is obvious that they will prefer the one that conforms more closely to this standard of perfection or beauty because this meets with greater approval and less criticism. This approval by others is in no way an external value; in other words, your approval of what I do has a value for me, but unless I want this, it has no value for me at all. If I don’t like the criticism, I will try to conform to a standard that avoids what I don’t like, but this is a relation between myself and what exists outside of me.
“Well, is it a fallacious value when certain differences are admired and respected more by the majority of the world? For example, is it a fallacious value when — pardon the fallacious expression — a beautiful girl attracts a millionaire who desires to marry her because of her beauty? I’d say these values are pretty real, regardless of whether we call these differences by one name or another, right? If one thousand males have to choose between two females and the entire thousand pick one in preference to the other, do you mean to say that the differences that attracted them are not a part of the external world?”
“Of course, these differences are a part of the external world, just as the difference between the moon and the sun is a part of the external world, and just as the difference between a cat and a rat is externally real, but this has nothing to do with value. In other words, if you choose a cat as a pet because you like felines, this has personal value for you. There are some people who like rodents and would pick the rat as their choice, which has personal value for them. In reality, there is no such thing as an external value. If you are drawn to hire an individual because he meets certain requirements or if he judges for himself that he qualifies (as will happen in the new world), this only means that he is more valuable to you, the employer; and if one thousand people think the same way this doesn’t mean that the differences they prefer have external value although the differences in substance are externally real. Value is nothing other than a word to describe what you personally want or like.”
“Do you mean that one man’s meat is another man’s poison... and doesn’t this go back to the idea that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder? I’m still confused as to why this expression isn’t correct when it is expressing someone’s personal taste.”
“There is quite a difference between both expressions because meat and poison are external realities, but, as we have learned, beauty has no external reality whatsoever. I may not like certain types of meat, but I don’t create the meat with a word to symbolize its existence, whereas the word ‘beauty’ does this by placing a greater value on certain specific differences (that undeniably exist and are a part of the external world), which value only has existence for the internal world, that is, for what I personally like or desire. For example, if I call one shaped nose aquiline and another straight, then I am accurately symbolizing an external difference, but if I say a straight nose is beautiful and an aquiline nose is ugly, then I am projecting through my eyes an internal value that has no external existence onto a screen of differences that are externally undeniable. Consequently, when any words are used that contain an internal value, something that you recognize as having more value for you, which is then projected as a part of the external world, it is then made to appear that this value exists outside of you because you see it with your very eyes. As a result of words, man was actually able to do the impossible. He was able to stratify differences in people into layers of value when it is mathematically impossible for anything of value to exist in the external world. Can you imagine what would happen if we lived in an atmosphere where there were no values that were imposed as standards by the unconscious or conscious judgment of others?”
Supposing two girls living on earth, presently called ugly, were placed on a planet where no such word exists; there would be absolutely nothing to prevent them from living a normal life because the males there would never judge them in terms of ugliness, for no such thing exists except as a projection of our realistic imagination. What one man may like when no words such as beautiful and ugly are present to condition him — and there is no criticism for the choice that appeals to him most — might be a girl who has a stocky build, small breasts, and protruding ears. Here on earth, these girls are handicapped from the day of their birth because their particular features have been assigned more or less value as a result of these differences. They are constantly judged, not in any personal or direct manner, but in a way that cannot easily be corrected because they are seen through this kaleidoscope of negatives that transforms them realistically into what they are not. Every other word we use stratifies external differences, which cannot be denied, into fallacious standards and values that appear realistic only because they are confirmed with our eyes (with the direct perception of our sense of sight) and our unconscious syllogistic reasoning, which employs words as realities. The unhappiness resulting from these words is both manifold and manifest in the very fact that people develop an inferiority complex and are forced to compensate by becoming the life of the party or by making themselves visible in other ways. Not realizing that it was the word itself that was the source of the problem, those who were considered ugly were compelled to go through life feeling less than others in physiognomic value.
How many times have you heard someone intending to be nice but with a tone of pity remark, “She isn’t pretty, but she has a nice personality,” which becomes the consolation prize. This girl has to remove herself from the competition and get approval some other way in order to make up for this imaginary lack. Although you look back with smiling incredulity to the days of yore and wonder about the many ignorant beliefs that our ancestors used to imagine were true, is it possible for your professors to believe that they are not any more educated or intelligent than anybody else? As a further consequence of these fallacious differences that do not exist in reality but are only a projection of deceptive relations, they have been led to believe that they are more important than someone else, more valuable in the scheme of things, and from this source a host of evils stem. Do they have any conception that these are only words? In reality, no one is more intelligent or educated than anyone else, as you will soon understand. There are many more words that will go by the wayside, such as brilliant, genius, a brain, etc., because they do not accurately describe reality for what it is (and will be discussed in the chapter on education). It is absolutely true that just as long as others judge you as more beautiful or valuable when your physiognomy conforms to an accepted standard, or more educated or valuable when you learn or do certain things, there is ample justification to change yourself to suit them, which is the reason many people have nose operations, squeeze their teeth together, develop a huge vocabulary, walk, talk, and act in definite ways. The individuals who are considered educated, intelligent, or beautiful may not like to be told that they are none of these things, but there is a big difference between the people considered to possess these values and the ones who do not. It is difficult to contemplate the extent to which we have all been influenced by words that judge half of the human race as inferior, and the consequent pain this has caused.
At long last, we will be able to know ourselves for who we really are. If any reader starts out with a feeling of superiority or inferiority, I will guarantee that when he understands all the principles — and he will — he will end up feeling exactly equal in value with every person alive…no better or worse. We must remember that mankind has been developing at a mathematical rate and had to go through the necessary stages of development in order to reach this stage of maturity. Man has been consciously unconscious of the reason for doing things because of words, nothing else. Psychologists, theologians, philosophers, as well as all others who read books but do not know the difference between mathematical and logical relations, think that by learning a lot of words in various combinations, they have been studying reality. But when we realize that everything had to develop exactly the way it did, we are comforted in the knowledge that just as these words came into existence for various reasons, they will soon depart. I don’t believe it is possible for me to clarify this more than it is already in the text itself. However, I suggest this chapter be read and listened to several times, just in case you haven’t completely understood it. As a result of this knowledge, I have completely stopped using these words. It may be difficult for you to stop because they are used to compliment, flatter, and raise ourselves by downing others. When you refer to someone as bad-looking, it is equivalent to saying, “I am better looking,” and most people use everything they can to elevate their opinion of themselves in this cruel world of words. However, you will soon see that all these words must come to an end out of absolute necessity. Let us now observe what must take place as we extend the knowledge of what it means that man’s will is not free and his eyes not a sense organ into the world of love.
