Black and White#2

First, some admin notes to start off. The theme of this series of posts is a discussion on perception, it's effects on our daily interactions and how our perceptions don't always match the reality of the situation. It is not about the incident in Cambridge Mass. between Professor Gates and the Cambridge Police Department. That incident was used only as a means of illustrating how two people can enter into a situation with completely different concepts of what is actually happening causing a conflict. A side theme to this topic is how outsiders not involved in the actual situation form perceptions and subsequently get involved, laying blame or finding fault with one side or the other. I'll be honest and tell you that is a pet peeve of mine because I believe not every situation that goes wrong or develops badly is due to the fault of one person or a group of people. But that is a subject for a seperate post. Now we get back to perception and reality.



Our perception of what is going on around us is influenced by a myriad amount of factors. These factors are too numerous to list but include such things as our emotional state, our physical state, the values we have, how we were raised, personal experiences, genetics, our knowledge base or lack thereof and so on. All of these factors effect how we "see" the world. They shape and influence the way we process all the information we absorb; the how we think. More importantly, these factors form what we think. The what is our final conclusion or perception. If the process stops at that point, the formation of a perception, then the perception becomes reality. In other words, truth.

But wait a minute, if we all have different perceptions that would mean there are multiple truths? How can that be? If something is true to me, if it is a reality, how can it not be true to someone else? I'm going to stop here to let this sink in but I'm going to leave off with a question. Is there such thing as one reality or are we all creating different realities around us. Is there an absolute truth?