NOTICING: Two Biggest Illusions

As part of my own challenge to summarize Eyes Wide Open's Book. I will tell my experienced based on my observation in my daily life, to analyze whether some of the explanations in that book is relatable or not into practical. 

Image above is my daily life in the afternoon. I see a lot of women, just like me they also go to work to make a living. They have to deal with the worst traffic jam every single day. Sometimes I can't imagine how cruel people inside the cars. They used big car just for him/her only and yet there are some people that choose to use public transportation. They never really think about the struggle of people who take a bus, as you can see sometimes we don't get a seat. Those cars often take the busway so they can arrive faster. That's just showing how selfish they are. People who take public transportation should be prioritized. There are a lot more struggles taking a public transportation in a city with that have a tittle as the city with the worst traffic ever.

People in Indonesia who lived in a big city must be familiar with this green helmet. Yes! Gojek, Grab, and Uber (not with green theme though) are often used by urban people as their transportation to go to the office, school, or anywhere they want. I believe this application really really helpful (hey, i'm user too). Some people may not notice (or actually notice but ignore it) that this helpful application/tool is starting to create its own problem. When people experienced how easy they use the application and experienced how easy they are to go anywhere with affordable price, they will keep using this tools again, and again. Sometimes, with really near distance they prefer to take this motorbike rather than a bus. Why? Because it is easy and affordable. The problem that they don't notice is, it is actually creating traffic even worst. Not only that, when the road is stuck like you can see in the picture above, you will breathe in the pollution directly. 

Paul Fleischman said on his book "Eyes Wide Open" you will begin noticing the same things going on in basically everywhere and everyday, it will create 2 biggest illusions, which is:

1.       It’s always been this way

From driving to school and flying cross-country, Air conditioning, and Phone calls. They are all so common that we hardly notice them. We think that activity is just a normal activity. This kind of thinking will lead you into something you couldn’t imagine before.

2.       Everything’s Fine

The amazing new world we have created has created new residues. With the help of technology, everything become easier and also horrible at the same time.

I was shocked when I read his thought about this two biggest illusions. What makes me shocked is that I couldn't believe how relatable those thoughts about my mini observation on the street. Then I think and relate that theory into something bigger, and my mind couldn't handle how dangerous those illusions are. Not only relate it to environmental things, but also other thing. I also realized, perhaps that is the reason why change / remove our bad habit is so difficult. Even though, that habit is a simple bad habit, we can't just stop it. When, I start to think about these illusions, I began to observe and analyze a lot of simple things (well, maybe it's just my habit. Deep thinker).

So, what is the purpose of Paul to make us notice about those illusions? Based on my experienced, I think it is simply just to make us to be more aware and careful about what we do, about what company make us do, etc. Well, people beware of these biggest two illusions that you may not notice in your life.