So I'm sitting here...
...wondering what I should write about. The Olympics, Cheney shooting people, arctic blasts, the war. So much fucked up stuff, so little time.
So I was listening to the radio, NPR, and they were talking about the Abu Graid (SP?) prison scandal re-emerging in light of all the protests concerning the Mohammad cartoons. The commentary included a statement about folks in the Arab world having a misperception about how we here in the west view them and their culture.
Misperception. My thought is that there is no such thing as a misperception. There is only perception, there is nothing mis about it.
A person perceives what he or she perceives. Just because it is not what we think the person should perceive does not invalidate the perception. We may not want someone to perceive us in one way or another and we may try to change that perception, perhaps successfully, but perception falls under the category of relative truth. All perception is valid at the time that the perception comes into being. Circumstances may change, which may alter perception, but perception is a moment by moment thing that is in constant flux.
In short, perception is created by the one doing the perceiving, not the person or thing being perceived. And those perceptions are influenced entirely by past experience and conditioning. In fact, I will go out on a limb here and say that a person has absolutely no control on how they are perceived. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, not the beholded.
A person's perception comes from within. All perceptions are colored by past experiences which are also subject to perceptions tainted by prior events and their accompanying perceptions... And so on, forever.
One implication to this view is the notion that all the qualities that we see in others are actually qualities within ourselves. Whether we see a person as caring or indifferent, cruel or compassionate, good or evil, those are perceptions that we project onto them. Further, the greater capacity that we have within ourselves for compassion, the more compassion we will perceive in others. Therefore if you want to live in a kinder more compassionate world, become kind and compassionate and your perception of the world will change in that direction. And as others view you in this light, it may draw the kindness and compassion from within them.
We can change the world, if we start with ourselves.
So I was listening to the radio, NPR, and they were talking about the Abu Graid (SP?) prison scandal re-emerging in light of all the protests concerning the Mohammad cartoons. The commentary included a statement about folks in the Arab world having a misperception about how we here in the west view them and their culture.
Misperception. My thought is that there is no such thing as a misperception. There is only perception, there is nothing mis about it.
A person perceives what he or she perceives. Just because it is not what we think the person should perceive does not invalidate the perception. We may not want someone to perceive us in one way or another and we may try to change that perception, perhaps successfully, but perception falls under the category of relative truth. All perception is valid at the time that the perception comes into being. Circumstances may change, which may alter perception, but perception is a moment by moment thing that is in constant flux.
In short, perception is created by the one doing the perceiving, not the person or thing being perceived. And those perceptions are influenced entirely by past experience and conditioning. In fact, I will go out on a limb here and say that a person has absolutely no control on how they are perceived. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, not the beholded.
A person's perception comes from within. All perceptions are colored by past experiences which are also subject to perceptions tainted by prior events and their accompanying perceptions... And so on, forever.
One implication to this view is the notion that all the qualities that we see in others are actually qualities within ourselves. Whether we see a person as caring or indifferent, cruel or compassionate, good or evil, those are perceptions that we project onto them. Further, the greater capacity that we have within ourselves for compassion, the more compassion we will perceive in others. Therefore if you want to live in a kinder more compassionate world, become kind and compassionate and your perception of the world will change in that direction. And as others view you in this light, it may draw the kindness and compassion from within them.
We can change the world, if we start with ourselves.
posted by Mark at
5:50 PM
2 Comments:
Well there is ultimate reality and there is relative reality. Ultimate reality is void of perception, which, unless you are a Buddha, is fairly impossible to experience.
Maybe I should say it this way... Perception is always wrong because we do not perceive ultimate truth. Therefore perception and truth are never aligned.
As for poor, sweet Princess, your label for her pain changed as you learned more information but her ailment. Your initial perception of her suffering was correct, you just slapped the wrong label on the cause for her suffering.
People don't perceice others as inferior, they label them as such.
...and I should check my spelling before I post.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home