I always think of it as learning to see hidden dimensions, and once seen, investigate deeper or just imagine transformations of that dimension -- extrapolation, inversion, etc. Once found, you can drag around these hidden dimensions from one domain or one instance to the next.
Like sometimes I seem to be in alignment with someone, but things feel off. I once realized the "off" feeling was because I was running toward something I believed in, and they're running away from another thing that scared them. It's only circumstantial we were intellectually walking in the same direction, so I tread thoughtfully in collaboration with this person. It's attractive force vs repulsive.
Once I knew to look for this "away vs toward" dimension, I see it often :)
very nicely articulated.. so, you are suggesting to be "sensitive" to "feelings" - such the one of being "off" - since feelings primarily provoke thought. Another feeling that i have is one of "inconsistency" - again it feels like something is off, and you are suggesting to pursue this feeling rather than to brush it aside.
aw hey thanks. haha yeah, "feelings" are maybe just the subjective experience of a mind interpreting high-dimensional data. so I guess I'm arguing for using "feelings" as a dowsing rod for a truer dimension hidden beneath, to which the feeling is drawing your attention :)
Meditation has totally helped me widen my scope and soften my awareness. I've found these two exercises also help me get out of my default mode of perception.
Image Streaming[1] is a fun little exercise that has helped me expand my perception of things or problems. I try to do it in a very high dynamic range way -- where I zoom out of a scene describe it in detail and then zoom in a describe it in detail.
There is also a fun improv exercise where you walk around looking at objects and calling it the wrong name. It sort of gets you our of default mode and you start seeing things 'differently' (a touch more vivid). I think the exercise is described in Impro by Keith Johnstone.
Mathematician David Bessis describes similar exercises in his book [ref] - wherein he explores a room blindfolded to awaken other senses, or visualize the places he has been to.
Don’t ignore any question is the strategy I’ve found. The problem is that some questions fall just below the conscious threshold. Meditation seems to help dredge up the questions and take them seriously.
Physicist Bohm has written about this. That, the beginning of new perception is in mindful listening or mindful awareness.. But most of us are stuck in our thought-rut preventing this.
Perception itself carves out categories almost unconsciously leading to the thought-rut we are in. ie, Bootstrapping the perception of new detail in everyday life is very hard.
The way I did it was by deliberately going against my normal impulses. The rule was "whatever you would normally do, do the opposite of that". If you would stay home, go out. If you would eat a steak, eat spaghetti instead. If you would get drunk, stay sober. If you would stay sober, get drunk. Basically, as long as it's not something that's likely to do irrevocable harm, do things that don't seem like good ideas and just see what happens.
The limits on our experiences are usually self-imposed by the fact that we tend to make specific choices limited to specific contexts. The experiences you have are the experiences that derive from what you think is a good idea. So doing things you think are bad ideas tends to result in a lot of new experiences.
This may seem like impractical advice. How does one increase the scope of perception? Personally, I’ve found that a meditation practice leads to this.