Mahatma Gandhi and His Myths: Civil Disobedience, Nonviolence, and Satyagraha in the Real World (Plus Why It's 'Gandhi,' Not 'Ghandi')

by Mark Shepard

Why aren’t we more aware of such cases — including those in our own history? I think it’s because of something we could call “filtering.” Probably most of you who’ve worked with cameras know about the kind of filter I mean. The filter fits over the camera lens and blocks out portions of the light — usually certain colors — and lets the remainder pass through to the lens. In effect, the filter selects the portion of light that the camera will “see.” Each of us too sees the world through our own “filter” — a filter made up of our assumptions, our motivations, and the categories we use to sort out and organize our experience. This filter determines how we see the world. When we come across something that doesn’t match our assumptions, motivations, and categories, our filter blocks it out. It’s not that we choose to reject it. Consciously, we don’t even perceive it. Or else we perceive it in a partial, distorted form.