The ability to understand a simple pen then is a powerful tool that allows us to go behind reality and make adjustments at its very core: sort of like having the source code for a computer program, or working on an organism at the level of its genetic code.

The distances at which we can hear two other people having a conversation is an example. If a certain number of feet were inherently the number of feet at which we can no longer hear what they're saying, then someone standing next to us who has much more acute hearing than us shouldn't be able to hear them either. Just like the pen and the dog.

And so rather than bringing about some miraculous change in our ability to hear, we simply replace the seeds in our own mind that are creating the limit at which we can hear. A hundred feet becomes two feet, and we can listen to people talking two houses down the street.

This could obviously drive you mad, and make activities like sleep and meditation impossible. Generally speaking, we are automatically protected by the fact that such powers are only gained through the desire to use them to serve others.