Perception

Perception seems to be the topic of the day and indeed of this current moon cycle. We have been talking about our own perception. This is an involved and complex maze of different aspects for such an innocent little word so let me see if we can unfold part of it.

At the very tip of perception is interpretation and conception or misconception, or perception with a distorted base upon which one concludes what another is meaning. Communication especially verbal interactive communication is fraught with hazards, yet even the written word lacks in the conveyance of a story. Ever read a book then watched the film. We may hear accurately then bundle it up to fit with our current model of how things are perceived and toss whatever does not
fit.

Moving now to a more abstract view of perception and we step into how so called Facts are accepted by the majority until someone or something challenges that fact, which puts a fact into category of ‘a commonly accepted belief’. For instance does the sun revolve around the earth or does the earth revolve around the sun? Galileo challenged that belief, but I personally have no evidence to form an accurate opinion either way, the only thing I know for sure is that the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, but so does the moon. So what you may ask, and indeed you may for we accept many things as given, a given reality of the way things are and therefore accept the information that is passed to us without question. Oh you say but I do question it, I say, do you, do I? We are surrounded with many schools of thought all proclaiming to be the truth, yet within each are contradictions of the others. Religion, Philosophy, Science, Art, Education, Construction, Architecture (ouch), the list goes on. We see or hear things and accept that which support our own perception. Thus we form an opinion of ‘what is’ based on the information we have that supports our opinion, but do we ever re-evaluate the perception.

Now I’m going to put this on a personal footing, for this I think is where the real value is. Perception of myself, who I am and how others perceive me, note here the mismatch, my perception of how others perceive me. Think about that for a moment and consider how much of your own perception is based on the perceived perception of others. How much of it is accepted belief and how much is a distortion of reality? I have just figured out that my entire life to date has been walked with a distorted reality identified and conditioned within the first seven years, supported by the next seven, and by the age of twenty one it was so ingrained in my belief system that I had accepted this reality as fact and thus it could not be changed. ‘Just do the best you can with the tools/lot/cards you have’. The original seed was fact or reality, but the perception and resulting compensatory reaction to it by others coloured their perception and behaviour and thus my perception of reality.

This is a complete distortion of reality, served up by well meaning and loving family members including extended family and friends. We can see this with actors being type cased into a specific roll, public perception of a persona locks an actor into one and only one roll and is very difficult to shake it off. In the process of growing up we are type cased and in my case accepted that roll as reality. So we grow up learning about the world and how we fit into it, learning how to perceive things, being guided by family and friends, who may also be operating with distorted perception.
As we walk through life we are occasionally presented with a ‘life challenge’, well I am, anyway, it is important that we walk through those challenges, be they personal, relationship or professional. If we have a perception of ourselves that prevents or inhibits us from walking through these challenges then the perception itself is the challenge. Whether we succeed or fail in the challenge is actually irrelevant, the success is in having walked through it, the outcome is secondary.

The main point to all this and I do think there is one, is that any perception that limits or stops us from walking through a challenge needs to be discarded. Easier said than done, yes, but so is walking through a life challenge, but walk it we must, it may be that dropping a limiting belief of ourselves is the lesson or just a bonus. Question, then your own perception, especially the ones that limit you or distract you from walking your path, question every perception, is it reality or not, does it exist without my belief in it, can it be contradicted, countered, challenge.

There may be more to this that first meets the conscious brain, after all consider the power of phobias. We all accept these as cases of a distorted belief, yet near impossible for the person afflicted by such a belief to just consciously decide otherwise. These are unconscious or subliminal beliefs operating here and not something I’m qualified to comment on, only as far as this is an extreme example of a limiting perception or belief, one that limits the full expression of the self. Some of these limitations or perceptions may be hidden, subliminal, the point being examine even the resistance to something, it may be a false or distorted perception that limits us.

All of these distorted perceptions or false beliefs may in fact be fear based on something that the instinctual animal man needs for survival. Ask yourself ‘Is it fear that stops me?’, and if the answer is yes then walk through it, my friend, because the very belief that stops us, may be transformed into a strength. Easier said than done I know, but facing the fear, challenging the belief has got to be easier that being paralysed by it.