The Problem with Perception
Samuel Rowbotham sounds like he was a very interesting guy. Maybe not someone you'd want to go out with and have fun, but someone who would make you think. He's not speaking much now, nor is he being invited to many parties. He died in 1884.
You seriously don't know Sam? He's the founder of the 'Flat Earth Society'. That's right. He believed that the earth is flat and that the north pole is at the center of this frisbee we call earth. The stars, he believed were only a few hundred miles above this disk.
The amazing thing is that the society exists to this day! It has a few thousand members, with forums for discussing the um....flatness of the earth, and other related topics like "The Risks of a 'around the world flight or cruise'". I'm sure the discussions are quite interesting.
My reason for bringing Flat Sammy into this conversation is because he really illustrates so well the truth of the statement, "Perception is reality". The longer I live, the more I'm reminded that this is a true statement. There are people on this planet that believe with all their heart that the earth is flat. Never mind the scads of evidence that exists to the contrary. Photos from space must be manufactured, maps and globes are all wrong...trips around the world are a not really 'aROUND' the earth, engineers and scientists who factor in the curvature of the earth for scientific projects just get lucky. I'm not really sure what they think about those things. But I do know that for them, the earth is flat as a freakin pancake. Everything in their flat worldview has that perception as a backdrop.
I went to college with a guy who believed that the universe was geocentric rather than heliocentric. In other words, he believed that the earth (a round one by the way) was the center of the universe and that all of the celestial bodies orbit us. That being opposed to the (to him, false) way we were all taught that the sun (helios in Greek) is the center of the universe, and this mudball along with the others are all orbiting the blazing inferno way out there. Maybe he's right, I don't really care as long as I'm not boating off the edge of a flat world into infinity and beyond, or as long as the sun rises and sets every day, and stays at a relatively survivable distance from the earth so we don't either freeze or fry.
Perception is reality for all of us. The way we perceive things, the things we believe about people, whether true or not, affect the way we see everything. If I was born with purple lenses placed in my eyes from the first time I opened my eyes, to me everything I saw would be some shade of purple. Sounds kind of trippy, but for me, that perception would be my reality. The only way that reality would change for me is by removing the lenses. Then I hopefully would see things as they are.
In my life, I've usually been pretty good at sizing someone up pretty quickly. Not to say that I can anticipate anything that they can or will do, because after all, we're human and human behavior is the most unpredictable things ever. And as much as I hate to admit it, sometimes I've heard things about someone well in advance of meeting them, and as difficult as it is, it's difficult to keep that out of the evaluating equation the first time I meet them. The sad things is, not everything you hear is true. But, again, perception is reality. I would read everything I had heard about this person into every word, gesture, and comment. They were kind of doomed from the beginning. I should have been ashamed of myself.
Some people work overtime to change people's perceptions about others. For them, reality isn't colorful enough, so they come up with things (God only knows where they come up with their 'facts') that Lifetime movies are made of. It's amazing. Character assassination isn't new, it's been around for a long time, unfortunately. And it can be very damaging...because for all of us, perception is reality. The problem is, perceptions are not always accurate, they're not perfectly untainted. And who of us haven't been sucked in by theories being presented as fact, or stories about others being entertaining, but simply false. I have, you have, all God's children have been sucked in.
Be careful...especially when it comes to people. Be suspicious about everything you hear and half of what you see. Relationships are very important, in fact, I'll say they're the most important, they're the only things we're taking with us off of this mudball (or frisbee) when we go to join Sam. And when I see Sam, I'm gonna try really, really hard not to say, "I told you so!!" FG
You seriously don't know Sam? He's the founder of the 'Flat Earth Society'. That's right. He believed that the earth is flat and that the north pole is at the center of this frisbee we call earth. The stars, he believed were only a few hundred miles above this disk.
The amazing thing is that the society exists to this day! It has a few thousand members, with forums for discussing the um....flatness of the earth, and other related topics like "The Risks of a 'around the world flight or cruise'". I'm sure the discussions are quite interesting.
My reason for bringing Flat Sammy into this conversation is because he really illustrates so well the truth of the statement, "Perception is reality". The longer I live, the more I'm reminded that this is a true statement. There are people on this planet that believe with all their heart that the earth is flat. Never mind the scads of evidence that exists to the contrary. Photos from space must be manufactured, maps and globes are all wrong...trips around the world are a not really 'aROUND' the earth, engineers and scientists who factor in the curvature of the earth for scientific projects just get lucky. I'm not really sure what they think about those things. But I do know that for them, the earth is flat as a freakin pancake. Everything in their flat worldview has that perception as a backdrop.
I went to college with a guy who believed that the universe was geocentric rather than heliocentric. In other words, he believed that the earth (a round one by the way) was the center of the universe and that all of the celestial bodies orbit us. That being opposed to the (to him, false) way we were all taught that the sun (helios in Greek) is the center of the universe, and this mudball along with the others are all orbiting the blazing inferno way out there. Maybe he's right, I don't really care as long as I'm not boating off the edge of a flat world into infinity and beyond, or as long as the sun rises and sets every day, and stays at a relatively survivable distance from the earth so we don't either freeze or fry.
Perception is reality for all of us. The way we perceive things, the things we believe about people, whether true or not, affect the way we see everything. If I was born with purple lenses placed in my eyes from the first time I opened my eyes, to me everything I saw would be some shade of purple. Sounds kind of trippy, but for me, that perception would be my reality. The only way that reality would change for me is by removing the lenses. Then I hopefully would see things as they are.
In my life, I've usually been pretty good at sizing someone up pretty quickly. Not to say that I can anticipate anything that they can or will do, because after all, we're human and human behavior is the most unpredictable things ever. And as much as I hate to admit it, sometimes I've heard things about someone well in advance of meeting them, and as difficult as it is, it's difficult to keep that out of the evaluating equation the first time I meet them. The sad things is, not everything you hear is true. But, again, perception is reality. I would read everything I had heard about this person into every word, gesture, and comment. They were kind of doomed from the beginning. I should have been ashamed of myself.
Some people work overtime to change people's perceptions about others. For them, reality isn't colorful enough, so they come up with things (God only knows where they come up with their 'facts') that Lifetime movies are made of. It's amazing. Character assassination isn't new, it's been around for a long time, unfortunately. And it can be very damaging...because for all of us, perception is reality. The problem is, perceptions are not always accurate, they're not perfectly untainted. And who of us haven't been sucked in by theories being presented as fact, or stories about others being entertaining, but simply false. I have, you have, all God's children have been sucked in.
Be careful...especially when it comes to people. Be suspicious about everything you hear and half of what you see. Relationships are very important, in fact, I'll say they're the most important, they're the only things we're taking with us off of this mudball (or frisbee) when we go to join Sam. And when I see Sam, I'm gonna try really, really hard not to say, "I told you so!!" FG
Perception is reality to those who perceive it, and. Perception is almost always a one sided view. When we limit ourselves to perception and say statements like “that’s how I see it and that’s the way it is” we are actually demonstrating just how much of a closed minded society we exist in. If you chose to live in a world where you let perception guide you then you are captive to and actually easily manipulated by others. It is actually not all that hard to create a perception, and it is probably even easier that once another see’s you exist by your perceptions for them to guide your thoughts and emotions.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite worldly perceptions lately is “Freedom of Speech”, yet for those that scream I have the right to Freedom of Speech do everything they can to limit everyone else’s. I can’t count how many times I have seen posted on facebook or heard a similar type cry of “I have Freedom of Speech and I can say anything I want and if you disagree with me I’ll delete your comment or remove you from my friends list.” How’s that for an oxymoron? When can people realize that Freedom doesn’t make it so You can do whatever You want? True Freedom requires a degree of responsibility on all parties. I believe and support freedom of speech but not having Freedom of speech forced on me, if you can understand what I’m saying there. Don’t perceive anything from it just read it and think about it.
One of the problems with perception again I deal with all the time is technical writings, procedures and such. I had a big discussion with some else on the issue before. The way to understand especially technical writing is that, it says what it says and not something else. Quit trying to read things into it.
Well this no way to really close out a discussion on perception, so I’ll just end. Or can we just perceive that this is the end………….
Corky