The nature of perception ... whats your slant?

[sound]

Perception is mentioned in conversations/discussions time and again, which, to my mind, is not that unusual given that our experience is fashioned around how we perceive ... or is it?
People often make assumptions about what/how others perceive ... can we truly 'know' exactly what another person perceives?

How much of what we perceive is due to what we believe?

*Thanks in advance for all contributions ...

[I AM]

I only hope that someday another could enter the dimension of I, Would love to give a guided tour.

Originally Posted by sound

our experience is fashioned around how we perceive ... or is it?

On the contrary, our perception is shaped by our experiences. An individual's perception is the sum of cultural, environmental, religious/spiritual, social constructs. Individuals relate to one another and experience shared perception on certain ideas, beliefs, viewpoints, etc based on various commonalities. We may all look at the same concept or object, but SEE it completely differently than those around us.

I took an art class in high school and the instructor gave each student a blank canvas and the same set of paints and brushes. We all sat in a circle and he asked us to paint a "simple tree." When we were finished we lined up all of the paintings and were surprised at how different each tree was. We all perceived the concept of a "simple tree" so differently. It was a fascinating lesson.

[psychoslice]

Perception is the spice of life, we all have or own unique way of seeing something, but yes we can project our own way of seeing something onto another, but that is all we can do really, for their is no way for us to know what exactly is going on in someone else's mind.

"your perception is wrong"

"But that's your perception of my perception"

"ahh but that is then your perception of my perception of your perception"

"yes, well that is your perception of what my perception of your perception of my perception is"

"Well your perception of my perception of your perception of my perception of your perception of my perception of my perception of your perception is wrong anyways"

hee hee..no one is able to clearly see through another persons perception. With empathic, psychic and sensory connections we may feel anothers emotions and attitude, we might listen to their words and watch their body language, we might even get a picture of their spiritual journey and see imagery of significant energies in their life. But the perception of that information is our own. Thats why, to me, a good reader or a good conversationalist, will always be able to say what they have based that perception on. This enables their counterpart to discern where accurate vision has become distorted by the others perceptions.

[Arcturus]

is it perception when there is cultural or individual bias? is perception a personal thing or does it occur when the personal, which colours our view according to our belief structure, is set aside. to see according to our backround is prejudicial and can that be called perception. i'm using the word perception in it's absolute state; that is to understand without distortion. to percieve as is and not how we would prefer to see something. conditioning, desire and belief prevent perception. when you have put aside what prevents perception then it may occur naturally without any effort.

[blackraven]

Originally Posted by sound

Perception is mentioned in conversations/discussions time and again, which, to my mind, is not that unusual given that our experience is fashioned around how we perceive ... or is it?
People often make assumptions about what/how others perceive ... can we truly 'know' exactly what another person perceives?

How much of what we perceive is due to what we believe?

*Thanks in advance for all contributions ...

Sound – I don’t believe we can truly know exactly how another person perceives something. Each individual mind works uniquely different from every other mind in the universe. So much goes into our development of perception: our upbringing, education, life experiences, attitudes, receptivity or defensiveness to name a few. I’ve witnessed similarities in children that have been raised by the same parent, but by the time they reach adulthood they've added a whole slew of outside influences that set them apart from one another. A close relative suffers from a serious mental illness that often doesn’t respond to treatment. Her perception is often skewed by paranoia and hallucinations and so our family never can predict how she’ll respond to anything. But regardless to one’s mental health, I feel we really don’t know how others will respond to us in totality. We can guess or try to predict given our knowledge of how they’ve acted in the past, but life is ever changing from moment to moment and so are we. So I feel it is unlikely that we can “know” for certain how others perceive things in their environment, including us.

Blackraven

[lemex]

Originally Posted by Aşkı_01

On the contrary, our perception is shaped by our experiences. An individual's perception is the sum of cultural, environmental, religious/spiritual, social constructs. Individuals relate to one another and experience shared perception on certain ideas, beliefs, viewpoints, etc based on various commonalities. We may all look at the same concept or object, but SEE it completely differently than those around us.

I took an art class in high school and the instructor gave each student a blank canvas and the same set of paints and brushes. We all sat in a circle and he asked us to paint a "simple tree." When we were finished we lined up all of the paintings and were surprised at how different each tree was. We all perceived the concept of a "simple tree" so differently. It was a fascinating lesson.

Question, was each one a tree. If so, why would you be surprised. I'm not sure of the lesson.

Originally Posted by lemex

Question, was each one a tree. If so, why would you be surprised. I'm not sure of the lesson.

Yes, each one was a tree. Each tree was very different. No two trees were alike. The lesson was that individuals interpret things differently. You can have the same object, or the same concept, but it will be interpreted differently by each person.

I think that if 2 people are tuned in to each other, e.g. in love, then it is possible to know exactly what the other perceives.

On a forum, we can only go by what someone shares and how well they are able to describe their perception. (We can also perhaps accurately be able to intuit a little beyond this too if we have that ability).

If you know what you experienced and someone gives their "take" on it, then it is reasonable to say how accurate that person's perception was.

The question "how much of what we perceive is due to what we believe" is an interesting, pertinent question. I guess if there is a vested interest in maintaining a belief, this would indeed affect/cloud perception. If we really wanted to appraise something open mindedly, i.e. to see what was really there then the answer, I'd say, would be minimally so.