For example, a person who is colourblind may not be able to see the colour yellow. To them, yellow doesn't exist. That's their perception of the world. To us yellow does exist. But who can prove either of these perceptions wrong?
It brings me back to English in year 12, studying 'Whose Reality'. The whole idea was that reality is different for each person, but that doesn't make it less 'real'. A woman who believes that someone has taken her child when no one has will be equally distraught and desperate as a woman whose child has actually been taken. The reactions and responses are the same, regardless of what's true and what isn't.
It boggles my mind a little bit, because it makes me think 'what's to say my reality isn't real at all?' It also makes me think of the power a mind can have. It's like placebo pills. The perception or belief that something should be having an effect on your body ends up causing a change. It's the sheer mental power that does it, not a drug or medicine. Just thought.
People who are insane don't believe they're insane. All of their thoughts are perfectly justified to them. Everything makes sense. And because it doesn't make sense to the majority of other people, we decide their perception is skewed and they are insane. But at the root of it, in their minds, they are right and we are wrong.
You could study the thought of perception for a lifetime and still not understand everything I think. The human mind is far too crazy.
The reason I started thinking about this was because of a much shallower version of perception, and that is in the social world. How we perceive each other. I was thinking that we can intend something one way and it is taken another. For instance, sometimes when I'm with friends of friends or people that my friend's know, and I'm not a part of that 'group', I automatically assume that they are not interested in talking to me, and so I don't make an effort to start a conversation or form a friendship. Now, to them, I realised I may be coming across as stand-offish, or maybe not very friendly because I haven't been acknowledging them. To me, I see the situation as being one I'm not entirely welcome to but that comes across as being rude.
SO.
How do we solve social perception conundrums like this? You can't change the way other people think about your actions. Nor can you change the way a general social situation is read. I think what you (or really what I) should do about this is to be aware of other people's perception. It's just being aware of other people in general. It makes you much more receptive to other people's actions as well and can clear up some of these awkward misconceptions. But that's what I'm trying to do know. Just be aware of how something can be perceived differently because in all honesty, EVERYTHING can be perceived differently. There is never just one way to look at someone, or something.
We live in a 3D world don't we? So there's the answer. Always remember that everything and everyone has more then one dimension.
I totally agree. There are many situations where you may feel uncomfortable socially, feeling as though you 'aren't welcome' or shouldn't be part of a conversation, but to the other people involved you may be perceived as rude, or snobbish, or something along those lines. It's so hard to wrap my head around that idea sometimes. That everything is perceived differently by other people.
ReplyDeleteAmy x