The Power of Perception
So where have we left off? Untenable ideas, imposing my values on other people... Also, perception, the power of...
Let's try to flesh out the subject of perception. What has peaked my interest is determining the actual effect and overall value of the way in which we perceive ourselves and our world. For example, there have been attempts to correlate religious belief with longevity. It's difficult if not impossible to control for all variables in order to get a trustworthy correlation between the cognitive phenomenon of perceiving that one is the creation of a God who has a purpose for your life and living a longer than average life. The fact that a church-goer lives longer than a non-church-goer could have something to do with socialization and other lifestyle particulars of church life. A diligent researcher might be able to control for even those factors.
But we need not go down that road because I'm interested in the emotional, psychic effects of perception. Yes, these are certainly tied to issues like longevity (because based on what I've heard, it seems as though having a cheery, sociable disposition is the factor for living a long healthy life), but my focus is on the quality of short periods or moments in our lives. After all, life is made up of moments-their quantity being somewhat insignificant in comparison to their quality.
OK, so examples of different ways reality can be perceived which have starkly different effects on the person doing the perceiving:
A child believes that the gifts under the Christmas tree were made by elves and delivered to her by Santa and his reindeer; versus, a child believes that the gifts under the Christmas tree were bought at Walmart by her mommy and daddy. How does a child feel before, during, and after Christmas if she believes either one of these realities?
A young couple believes that both individuals were "meant" to be together, either fated or ordained by God; versus, a young couple believes that their meeting was mere coincidence or luck. Which feels better? Is one perception far more affective at generating happy feelings than the other?
A child is told and believes that he is one-of-a-kind, special, a cut above the rest; versus, a child is told and believes that he is no better than others around him, that he is their equal, and must work hard to earn his fame and fortune in life.
More examples:
A man finds out later in life that his parents are not actually his parents, that he was adopted.
A young man believes that he is the descendant of Native American warriors.
A young woman is constantly told that she is beautiful and desirable.
We have a distinction that ought to be made. There are at least two types of perception. How we view that which is apart from us, and how we view ourselves (or what we believe about either). I'll go out on a limb and guess that self perception is by far the more powerful force on our quality of life. In the past I've claimed that happiness has everything to do with how we view ourselves. To be fair though, whatever detail we believe about the world at large informs our own sense of self to some degree. So is all perception self perception? And is it possible to care about something if it doesn't tweak our self perception at least slightly? I'm thinking out loud here... I suppose a child who is overjoyed by the thought that Santa and the elves are responsible for the gifts that arrived is overjoyed not because those facts inform her about herself. Rather, it is more pure enchantment, wonder.
From here on, we could begin to explore the specific positive and negative feelings caused by various perceptions. Still, I'm more interested in debating the philosophical/moral question of whether our quest for maximum happiness ought to involve deceiving ourselves and others, or if all forms of deception and assumption ought to be railed against in favor of a naturalist, minimalist, belief about ourselves and our world. This question necessarily involves determining the extent and effectiveness of manipulating our perceptions purposefully. And finally, we might ask if it is impossible to perceive anything truly, or if everything we imagine is manufactured (a classic philisophical question), a mere reflection of our own mind.
A point I'd like to make is that even if we take a minimalist view of reality, we are still perceiving it in a certain way that is necessarily tied to some emotion. The late Carl Sagan viewed the universe from the eyes of a scientist, assuming nothing that he could not see or verify factually, but he was famous for his romantic view of the universe and our life within it. Clearly he chose to manufacture a certain value or aesthetic to associate with what he knew. Was he "deceiving" himself or freely exercising his will, his mind, to control his heart? I guess it just depends on how you choose to look at it.
Let's try to flesh out the subject of perception. What has peaked my interest is determining the actual effect and overall value of the way in which we perceive ourselves and our world. For example, there have been attempts to correlate religious belief with longevity. It's difficult if not impossible to control for all variables in order to get a trustworthy correlation between the cognitive phenomenon of perceiving that one is the creation of a God who has a purpose for your life and living a longer than average life. The fact that a church-goer lives longer than a non-church-goer could have something to do with socialization and other lifestyle particulars of church life. A diligent researcher might be able to control for even those factors.
But we need not go down that road because I'm interested in the emotional, psychic effects of perception. Yes, these are certainly tied to issues like longevity (because based on what I've heard, it seems as though having a cheery, sociable disposition is the factor for living a long healthy life), but my focus is on the quality of short periods or moments in our lives. After all, life is made up of moments-their quantity being somewhat insignificant in comparison to their quality.
OK, so examples of different ways reality can be perceived which have starkly different effects on the person doing the perceiving:
A child believes that the gifts under the Christmas tree were made by elves and delivered to her by Santa and his reindeer; versus, a child believes that the gifts under the Christmas tree were bought at Walmart by her mommy and daddy. How does a child feel before, during, and after Christmas if she believes either one of these realities?
A young couple believes that both individuals were "meant" to be together, either fated or ordained by God; versus, a young couple believes that their meeting was mere coincidence or luck. Which feels better? Is one perception far more affective at generating happy feelings than the other?
A child is told and believes that he is one-of-a-kind, special, a cut above the rest; versus, a child is told and believes that he is no better than others around him, that he is their equal, and must work hard to earn his fame and fortune in life.
More examples:
A man finds out later in life that his parents are not actually his parents, that he was adopted.
A young man believes that he is the descendant of Native American warriors.
A young woman is constantly told that she is beautiful and desirable.
We have a distinction that ought to be made. There are at least two types of perception. How we view that which is apart from us, and how we view ourselves (or what we believe about either). I'll go out on a limb and guess that self perception is by far the more powerful force on our quality of life. In the past I've claimed that happiness has everything to do with how we view ourselves. To be fair though, whatever detail we believe about the world at large informs our own sense of self to some degree. So is all perception self perception? And is it possible to care about something if it doesn't tweak our self perception at least slightly? I'm thinking out loud here... I suppose a child who is overjoyed by the thought that Santa and the elves are responsible for the gifts that arrived is overjoyed not because those facts inform her about herself. Rather, it is more pure enchantment, wonder.
From here on, we could begin to explore the specific positive and negative feelings caused by various perceptions. Still, I'm more interested in debating the philosophical/moral question of whether our quest for maximum happiness ought to involve deceiving ourselves and others, or if all forms of deception and assumption ought to be railed against in favor of a naturalist, minimalist, belief about ourselves and our world. This question necessarily involves determining the extent and effectiveness of manipulating our perceptions purposefully. And finally, we might ask if it is impossible to perceive anything truly, or if everything we imagine is manufactured (a classic philisophical question), a mere reflection of our own mind.
A point I'd like to make is that even if we take a minimalist view of reality, we are still perceiving it in a certain way that is necessarily tied to some emotion. The late Carl Sagan viewed the universe from the eyes of a scientist, assuming nothing that he could not see or verify factually, but he was famous for his romantic view of the universe and our life within it. Clearly he chose to manufacture a certain value or aesthetic to associate with what he knew. Was he "deceiving" himself or freely exercising his will, his mind, to control his heart? I guess it just depends on how you choose to look at it.
posted by Josh at
8:40 PM
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