PERCEPTION
Just because we see something a
particular way does not make it reality.
Every moment of our lives, our brains are turning sensory data into what we believe is reality. Yet there is no provable link between “this is what I see” and “this is what is real.” Your brain determines your perception.
Different brains perceive things differently.Humans, in general, have five senses that operate within a limited band of reception. For example, we can’t hear frequencies that bats and dogs can hear. Eagles can see clearly eight times as far as humans can, allowing them to spot a rabbit at a distance of two miles. They can also see a wider range of colors than we can, as well as UV light. African elephants can distinguish odor molecules that humans and other primates can’t come close to discerning.
Constrained by our perceptual tools, we have
no way to measure reality outside of our limited perception.
Stephen Hawking belonged to the camp of physicists who believe that reality exists as a material fact but he conceded, as did Einstein, that science doesn’t claim to know what reality is. Even believing in a fixed reality is an assumption—perhaps the greatest assumption of all time. Einstein called it “my religion” to denote that this was an article of faith for him. He could not prove that reality exists as a fixed state or material fact.
Reality may not exist at all as a material fact. What we mistake for reality may simply be a product of our perception.There may be no such thing as provable reality. There may only be your version of it, which is essentially your perception.
Every day, scientists are making new discoveries that are forcing them to disregard that which they previously thought was true. The philosopher Thomas Nagel, who has studied how different species view the world, speculates that our current notions of evolution “will come to seem laughable in a generation or two.”
Our perception is not only limited by our senses but by our perspectives and biases as well.
We often confuse perception with reality. We mistake how we understand things for the way they really are. Our thoughts and feelings seem real to us so we conclude that they must be true. They must be reality.
What if even our most deeply held beliefs were not true? What if what we think is reality is not reality at all?We often don’t realize how our perceptions cloud reality. It is extremely important to be aware of the effect that perception has on our beliefs and how this influences our conclusions, decisions, behaviors and actions.
Perception is an extremely powerful and important concept. Our reality is shaped by our perception.
Our perspectives, expectations
and biases shape our perception.
By controlling our expectations, considering multiple perspectives and by being aware of our biases, we can control our perception and see reality more clearly.
Leading a happy, successful and meaningful life requires that we not allow our biases, perspectives, expectations or perceptions to blind us. You need to try to see reality as clearly and objectively as possible, which means that you always need to consider multiple perspectives.
