“What makes things so? Making them so makes them so.”
Our minds play a key role in how we see reality. We experience the world through our senses of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching, smelling and thinking. Our minds receive the sensation and initially there is a perception of what is sensed that allows one to identify what is present. We can know that what is experienced is an apple, car, person, sun etc.
Next our beliefs, interpretations and history with what is experienced determine its value. Value is not inherent to the experience. It is what we superimpose on it. I like gala apples. Someone else might like delicious apples. This meaning making impacts how one is in relationship with what is experienced. With resistance of desire or aversion or through equanimity of mindfulness.
by Dr. Phil Blustein
November 21, 2025