Looking at Life…. in 6.6 billion ways

Perception is an interesting concept.  On a daily basis, we take perception to be the “whole reality”,… but reality, it is not.  Read any psychology book and you will soon find out that “perception” is “the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information.”¹  In other words, it is how we ‘mechanically’ process data based on a series of inputs creating a series of outputs.  This is summarised as follows: surrounding → input (senses) → processing (brain) → output (re-action)¹ . Therefore, our “reality” is only a reality to us, and not to anyone else.  Two individuals may come to the same conclusion about an event or idea, however, their perception of the matter would not have taken the same route. 

So, it is of no suprise then that “our view” of life is unique to only us.  Read comments made on blog posts anywhere and you see this concept in action.  The more controversial the subject, the more varied the perceptions,.. and thus individual realities.  

So what does this mean for us?  

It means that everytime we interact with someone, another individual, no matter what age, we are given the opportunity to experience another’s ‘view of life’.  We are “open” to their world.  We may not ‘understand’ how they perceive or even agree with them (at times), nevertheless, we should appreciate  why (ie,. know that their intellectual has processed available information) they have come to their ‘realitites’ and respect their individual-ness.  Once we start showing respect to individualism, we are opening our world and those we come into contact with, to a profound series of experience, which in turn will have a perpetual effect to eternity.

Having said this, what is your perception on this post?

¹ Source:  Wikipedia