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arrival in the New World revealed how cultural belief systems determine what people see—or don’t see. Columbus found that the native people in this new land couldn’t see his clipper ships. The natives were unable to see the big ships because they didn’t believe that big ships existed!

You See What You Believe

In 1492, Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola, now the countries of Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Until Columbus’ arrival, the islanders had only seen and heard of small boats—like their own canoes. The tribe had never seen nor heard of large ocean-going sea craft. So when the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria arrived, the natives couldn’t see the big ships of Christopher Columbus! And the vessels were floating in plain sight right off shore!

“I Don’t See Any Big Ships!”

Why couldn’t the islanders see the big boats? Because nobody in their culture had ever seen big boats before. And nobody had ever written or talked about big boats in their society.

In any culture, the mythmakers—teachers, historians and media—decide people’s reality. The specific world that mythmakers talk and write about determines the aspects of reality that people are able to perceive. The world that these storytellers talk and write about creates a belief system unique to each culture. And this belief system acts as a filter, screening out realities that don’t fit into the cultural conditioning of the society.

The mythkeepers who shaped the islanders’ belief systems didn’t recognize the possibility that large ships might exist. And the filter of this belief prevented the natives from seeing the three large sea vessels. …

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