DO YOU BELIEVE WHAT YOU PERCEIVE OR DO YOU PERCEIVE WHAT YOU BELIEVE? HOW YOUR BELIEFS AFFECT YOU.

DEFINITION OF PERCEPTION:

According to two of my psych. text books the definition of perception is "A psychological process; the act of organizing and interpreting the sensory experience."
The chapters then go on in great detail about the principles of perception and the science that backs it all up. 

I'm reasonably sure that as a student, I wasn't so impressed with this information. There was also much less information back when I first studied it and I was too busy being a disinterested student to really care.

From the definition you get the awareness that it's about our sensory experiences. That would therefore refer to our five senses and the way in which our brain organizes them and then interprets them. And not unlike our laws and our constitution, our brains appear to have differences in their ways of interpretation.

Actually, it's always full. There is oxygen in the top half of the glass. Sorry.

 

 

 

 

WHAT DO YOUR BELIEFS HAVE TO DO WITH WHAT COLOR YOU SEE?

I should have started with an easier question.  Maybe defining beliefs might help.

Interesting.  Neither psych. text had a chapter or the word 'belief' in their subject indices. I looked it up in my thesaurus and it came up under "viewpoint" in a section titled philosophy. It seems my idea is a bit of a cross pollination.

DEFINITION OF VIEWPOINT/BELIEF:

"Outlook, attitude, opinion, feeling, sentiment, idea, thought, notion; tenet, dogma, doctrine, canon, principle; precept, thesis, postulate, hypothesis, concept, judgement; set of beliefs or values, ethics, morals, school of thought, moral code, code of conduct, value judgement, standards, principles, ideology."

That certainly covers a lot of ground, yet they are all quite similar. Most of these 'words' express who each of us is at our very core. I am my belief system and my belief system is me.
I have an opinion about life, the universe, truth, justice, a code of conduct, ethics that are the basis of my of my personality.

Why is it that people are told that there are two things that should not be discussed? Politics and Religion.  Why is that?  In my opinion, (haha) it's because they are based on belief systems, not necessarily facts, although we believe them to be facts, and we will fight to the death over these beliefs.  Many people have died throughout history with either of these being the alleged cause. I use alleged because I personally believe it's always about money and power and that the people with the money and power get us involved because they can manipulate us because of our beliefs.  That was a minor digression, but I believe it.

How does that affect my perception of things?  Ah. this is where I would like us to go.

I mentioned before about perception being sensory. How can our sensory system not be accurate? I mean, blue is blue isn't it?  That should be a fact. Are facts, always facts?
Am I going off the deep edge here? I'm not sure. I'll give it a try.

I am an artist. I use colors to paint. How many shades of blue exist? I couldn't begin to guess. It depends on what you mix in with it. If you put in some red, you get a purplish blue. Put in some yellow and it starts to go green. You have no doubt had the experience of buying something in the store believing it was grey, and then getting it home in different light and now it's greenish.  See where I'm going?

Even our senses are touched by circumstances that can change them. Therefore, how dependable are they? You think you heard a voice. You think it tastes like almond. You think it smells like garbage. It feels like rubber.  But is it?

MY HYPOTHEIS:

Our belief systems color our perceptions so strongly that even in the face of actual fact, we will not be able to see something. If it contradicts our belief system and we acknowledge it, we will feel lost and unsure of everything. Therefore, it is easier to hold on to a belief that does not serve you rather than change.
I'm going to write that again, in big letter so no on misses it. 

IT IS EASIER TO HOLD ON TO A BELIEF THAT DOES NOT SERVE YOU, RATHER THAN CHANGE.

Where do our beliefs come from?

 Like most other things I've written about, much of it comes from our childhoods. Our parents, either as role models or drill sergeants, teachers, relatives, friends, religious schools and experiences.

As we are growing up we often go in search of our own system of value and belief and often reject those we were brought up with.  As we mature, we often go back to what we were taught. This appears to be part of human nature.









DO I PERCEIVE WHAT I BELIEVE?

I will admit that much of the time I do.  For example, I read that London's first Muslim mayor was just elected. My perception of this goes to reinforce my belief about Europe and particularly England's anti-Semitism. Does it have anything to do with religions? Well, I suppose if they brought it up, there is some meaning. That doesn't mean that it's anti-Jewish. That's how I perceive it though because my thought process has learned to organize certain information in a certain way.

People in America are really hating on Obama. I too, feel that he let us down, but I would never blame it on his race or his perceived Muslim bias. I also believe that when someone is in a position to bomb the world, you might have and show a little more respect. Hey, I'm old fashioned. In America, at least we are allowed to disagree. It's not pretty but we do quite a lot of it.  There are times I am embarrassed to be American. There are other Americans who would probably shoot me for saying that.

I believe guns are used by people to kill other people. I believe that guns should be illegal. The National Rifle Association disagrees and quotes the constitution. Am I wrong? Are they right? Is there such a thing as wrong or right?

Yup. I just headed over to the land of philosophy. 

WHY DOES ANY OF THIS MATTER?

I can only give my opinion, or feelings on this. I believe that our world is at a tipping point.
We humans do not seem to have learned to control our impulses that contribute to wars, hate, destroying the planet and those things lead to destruction.
This reminded me of a quote I saw recently. "I am not willing to kill for a cause, but I am willing to die for one."

If everyone believed this, then no one would kill and no one would die. Only there are a lot of people who believe that killing is the solution. But what if it's not?


It's okay not to agree on everything. It would be very , very boring if we did. The thing is, if we could only agree on the really big things, we might have a chance of survival. That's where I'm going with this. Survival. Not for me personally. For our children's, children's' children.  I am reminded of a Native American Tribe's saying. I wish I knew which tribe, but I don't. They made every decision based on the seventh generation theory.  Before they did something, like move their tribe somewhere else, killing an animal, marrying someone. they would ask, "If we do this, how will it affect the seventh generation?"  So, they knew they couldn't kill too many Buffalos. They couldn't intermarry. They gave thought to the future.

Our leaders are as unconcerned with the future as they are about us. Again. My belief. Maybe not yours. I hope you'll at least consider it. Because that's how we learn. We test our beliefs and see if they old up. Don't confuse broad minded for open minded. Open your minds. Look at what's going on in the world and ask yourself, why? why now? Is there something I can do to make the world a better place? A place that will still exist in seven generations?

As is often the case, this is not where I thought I was going. I was going to keep it more on the personality level because it seems that the posts that are read most, are that type. If you get where I went on the global scale, you can see where you are on the interpersonal one as well.

Are men dogs? Or has your experience led you to believe that? Could you learn to change that opinion or will you make every man you meet seem like a dog. You know self-fulfilling prophecy.  If you believe every one is good, how many times will you be taken advantage of before your change and realize that not everyone is good? Maybe never. You will excuse everyone's behavior and rationalize it away.

So, I'm just asking. Take a look at your beliefs, attitudes, opinions and try to see if they really do check with what other people see as reality. Sometimes it will. Sometimes it won't. Just allow that every now and then. We might be wrong.