Perception vs Reality
I've been pondering this question for the past few months. The difference between the two important words that we bandy around but don't always know the meaning of.
Perception is such an individual thing isn't it? I might perceive a piece of fabric to be blue, others will perceive it to be green. We can both be right, and we can both argue, or we can both agree. The perception is very clearly within the eye of the beholder. The dictionary meaning gives two options. The ability to see, hear or perceive through the senses. The alternative meaning is the way in which something is interpreted. Art for example! "Stunningly beautiful!" to the first person, "What a pile of junk" to the second. Same piece of visual information, totally different perceptions.
Reality is the actual, the middle ground. Nobody can deny the fabric is fabric, the label may state it is blue, or green, but the person who is viewing it may not see it that way. Art is art, it is a painting or a sculpture, it is real, and it is fact. The person viewing it has the perception.
So, is it perception vs reality, or reality viewed through perspective? Yes I am stone cold sober writing this!
The difficult part is for the third person attempting to judge, if they are silly enough to attempt such a task, whose perception is the reality. What a predicament! The third person may not have heard, or seen the actual writing or heard the actual words. Therefore, how can they then judge whose perception is the correct one? How do they decide where their own loyalties lie?
I think this is why I learned a long time ago not to judge. I would hate to have pursued a glorified legal career to the point where I had to sit and judge what someone had done, heard or said as a third person and to decide who was right and who was wrong. Yes, in a court they say they deal with facts. Easy when it's in black and white but when clouded by perceptions, where does the reality lie?
The saddest part is that there is never a winner. Person A, believes with all their heart and soul that Person B has wronged them, that their words had hidden meanings and agendas and can sometimes build up quite an elaborate plan around how those words affected them, and to gain support from others to justify their own feelings. Person B equally believes with all their heart and soul that they have done nothing or said nothing to invoke such reactions from Person B and can even have unequivocal black and white proof of it. Then there are the Persons further on through the alphabet who can choose to allow their loyalty to remain in tact, to take the higher moral ground and allow the others to process and to accept. Or they can choose to act as judge without jury, without evidence and to believe in perceptions rather than reality.
The only real winners in these situations are those who accept each person as an individual, to allow each person to be who they can be and have faith. I'm referring to faith in themselves, their families, their friends, and the spirit guides who show them daily they are there. That random parking bay isn't random, that song on the radio wasn't random, and those feathers lying on the ground at a sad moment aren't random. They are our guides leading us gently to not judge, to not twist and turn, to not stress and worry. They are our guides singing along "Don't worry. Be Happy"
So my perception is that everyone in the world has a good soul, everyone in the world has the capacity to be happy, productive, healthy individuals if they choose to be. My reality is that some people are negative, some people aren't healthy, and some people are selfish, and suffer from entitlement.
What do I do about it?
Every single solitary damned day of my life - for the next 50 years or so (I'm only 51, so I know I have it in me) I am being positive, having faith and finding something to do for someone else because that's when I'm in my happy place.
Perception is such an individual thing isn't it? I might perceive a piece of fabric to be blue, others will perceive it to be green. We can both be right, and we can both argue, or we can both agree. The perception is very clearly within the eye of the beholder. The dictionary meaning gives two options. The ability to see, hear or perceive through the senses. The alternative meaning is the way in which something is interpreted. Art for example! "Stunningly beautiful!" to the first person, "What a pile of junk" to the second. Same piece of visual information, totally different perceptions.
Reality is the actual, the middle ground. Nobody can deny the fabric is fabric, the label may state it is blue, or green, but the person who is viewing it may not see it that way. Art is art, it is a painting or a sculpture, it is real, and it is fact. The person viewing it has the perception.
So, is it perception vs reality, or reality viewed through perspective? Yes I am stone cold sober writing this!
The difficult part is for the third person attempting to judge, if they are silly enough to attempt such a task, whose perception is the reality. What a predicament! The third person may not have heard, or seen the actual writing or heard the actual words. Therefore, how can they then judge whose perception is the correct one? How do they decide where their own loyalties lie?
I think this is why I learned a long time ago not to judge. I would hate to have pursued a glorified legal career to the point where I had to sit and judge what someone had done, heard or said as a third person and to decide who was right and who was wrong. Yes, in a court they say they deal with facts. Easy when it's in black and white but when clouded by perceptions, where does the reality lie?
The saddest part is that there is never a winner. Person A, believes with all their heart and soul that Person B has wronged them, that their words had hidden meanings and agendas and can sometimes build up quite an elaborate plan around how those words affected them, and to gain support from others to justify their own feelings. Person B equally believes with all their heart and soul that they have done nothing or said nothing to invoke such reactions from Person B and can even have unequivocal black and white proof of it. Then there are the Persons further on through the alphabet who can choose to allow their loyalty to remain in tact, to take the higher moral ground and allow the others to process and to accept. Or they can choose to act as judge without jury, without evidence and to believe in perceptions rather than reality.
The only real winners in these situations are those who accept each person as an individual, to allow each person to be who they can be and have faith. I'm referring to faith in themselves, their families, their friends, and the spirit guides who show them daily they are there. That random parking bay isn't random, that song on the radio wasn't random, and those feathers lying on the ground at a sad moment aren't random. They are our guides leading us gently to not judge, to not twist and turn, to not stress and worry. They are our guides singing along "Don't worry. Be Happy"
So my perception is that everyone in the world has a good soul, everyone in the world has the capacity to be happy, productive, healthy individuals if they choose to be. My reality is that some people are negative, some people aren't healthy, and some people are selfish, and suffer from entitlement.
What do I do about it?
Every single solitary damned day of my life - for the next 50 years or so (I'm only 51, so I know I have it in me) I am being positive, having faith and finding something to do for someone else because that's when I'm in my happy place.
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