The Glass, the Gaze, and the Grand Illusion of Intention.

 

The Question You’ve Been Asking Wrong

A scientist, an artist, and a man dying of thirst look at the same glass of water. The scientist sees molecular structure, surface tension, the physics of volume. The artist sees light bending through liquid, an interplay of transparency and form. The thirsty man sees salvation—or a cruel reminder of what he lacks.

Same glass. Same water. Three different truths.

And yet, we are told the only two possible answers are “half full” or “half empty.”

We’ve been asking the wrong question all along.

It was never about perspective. It was always about intention.

The Lie of Perspective

We are raised to believe that how we see the world is a passive experience, a lens that simply tilts toward optimism or pessimism. But this is a lie.

A man who is thirsty does not see “half full” or “half empty.” He sees how much is left to drink. A woman trying to fill the glass sees how much is missing. The moment intention enters the equation, the question collapses.

Perception is not a filter—it is a function of desire.

You see what you are looking for.

Intention Shapes Reality

If you’ve ever learned a new word and suddenly started seeing it everywhere, you’ve experienced how attention dictates perception. This isn’t coincidence; it’s how the mind operates.

Consider the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon—the illusion that once you notice something, it appears everywhere. It was always there, but your mind filtered it out.

This principle applies not just to words, but to everything. Two people can enter the same room, live through the same experience, and emerge with radically different versions of reality. Not because one is optimistic and the other pessimistic, but because they walked in looking for different things.

A person seeking opportunity finds openings. A person expecting failure finds obstacles. A person intent on seeing problems finds them—everywhere.

Reality does not shape your intentions. Your intentions shape reality.

The Grand Illusion of Control

This realization is both liberating and terrifying. If what you seek determines what you see, then most of us are not truly in control of our lives—we are controlled by the intentions we have absorbed, often without realizing it.

If you were raised to fear failure, you will see only risks. If you were trained to chase success, you will see only rewards. The world does not dictate your reality; it simply reflects the questions you are asking of it.

So the real question is: Who chose the questions you are asking?

The Final Perspective Shift

The glass does not care if it is half full or half empty. The glass is waiting for you to decide what to do next.

Perhaps the true answer to the question is not a choice between optimism and pessimism, but an invitation: Will you drink? Will you pour? Will you shatter the glass entirely and build something new?

Because in the end, the greatest illusion is that we were never meant to look at the glass and answer a question.

We were always meant to act.

Reality bends to intention. The question is not what you see, but what you are looking for.

So, tell me—what is your glass?