When a child is born, does it first become aware of its own existence or that of its mother? We will perhaps never know the answer to this question. But what we know for sure is that as soon as a child comes out of the Mother's womb, the mother becomes the other! The mother is then no longer a part of the child's sense of Self, but is still someone the child feels deeply connected with. For some months after the child's birth, there is also perhaps the confusion about whether the child and the mother are two separate individuals or the same. Though this confusion subsides over the years, there are other things the child gets to interact with at varying levels of intimacy. There is a sense of separateness with certain things at certain points of time, and then there is also a feeling of oneness. The love and hatred that a person experiences for his/her favourite sports teams is also a result of his/her own changing mental landscape. There is a world that exists outside, and there is its reflection that exists inside. Another perspective could be that the world outside is a reflection of the world inside. Which of these perspectives is right, and which of these worlds is more real is hard to say. But the two worlds do exist and they are not really the same. The world outside is made of matter. And the world inside consists of the mind and consciousness. The world outside can be measured. And the world inside can be experienced. Can a measurement be experienced, and an experience measured?
