is it really just a matter of perception?

Question

where one sees a big bang , another sees a God , and another sees a Goddess , and another sees just a source

where one sees creation , another sees evolution , some see both

where one sees people drowning , another sees someone doing the backstroke lol

we all see the same thing really , do we not ?
just from different angels

so what would happen , if we put all our perceptions together ?

Answer 1

Wow, this has actually been the focus of most of my meditation lately. I've been thinking that perception is actually the only "reality". When we are young children, we don't know what a flower is, we just know that is beautiful and enthralling. Actually, when we are children we feel the same way about just about everything. Then we are told what the petals are, and the stamens, this is a desk, this is a cat. Slowly, our sense of wonder fades away as we label things, and the world becomes monotonous. We're still looking at a flower, but instead of seeing this amazing, complex, inspiring object filled with color and light, we see "a petunia". And soon, all we see is "a petunia". We don't notice the colors of the petals, or how beautiful the chrome on a car door handle can be in the sunlight. Or the complexity of a spider web. As we begin to categorize and label things they become mundane and lose that magical spark that so fascinated us when we were children. Then we start to do the same thing to people. Muslim, Atheist, Gay, Jew, Black, Chinese, Man, Woman, Feminist, Goth, Jock. We start to see the label instead of the person behind the label, and we judge them because of that. It's all in our perception. Only now do I realize how true Lao Tzu's saying was: “Distortion upon distortion: the more one uses the mind, the more confused one becomes” The more we categorize and label things, the more confused and depressed we become. Eventually, it gets to the point where we're surrounded by faces and still all alone, because we don't see the people, we just see the label. We isolate ourselves from everything, and bring about our own suffering...

Answer 2

Perception can form our bases of reality. That does not mean that what we believe is actually real or not. True to one person one thing might seem one way and another might look like something else. But when we have such differences such as a God verse no God, obviously here is a stark contrast that cannot be reconciled. Both people think they are right, but we know that they both cannot be correct. We need to test the evidence to know the true reality. For me that means an existence of God.

Answer 3

Perception in the mind depends upon the signals from the senses and the mental and emotional filters that we keep as individuals.

It is not just a matter of the change in point-of-view, but the awareness filters that each of us has put in place. The first result of open communication between individuals is we tend to be more aware of our personal filters. For some this causes resistance to change. For others it leads to a lessening of the filters.

When all of the filters are dropped, we are aware of reality as it is. We still have our personal point-of-view, but our perceptions merge.

Some might call this enlightenment. Some might call this living in the spirit. Some might call this self-actualization. We are only separated by our own vocabulary.

Answer 4

Hmm.. ever sat on a committee ???

If you have, you'll know that you would end up with an exploding hermaphrodite entity creating Darwin out of Adam's rib.....

Yep, I'm a surrealist, do it for a living :o)



Oh, and to the "defenders of the faith" out there,who are going to get closer to heaven by hitting the negative button on this: I am a deeply spiritual person.. but I also have a sense of humor, so get over yourselves !

Answer 5

No, I'm afraid it's not a matter of "getting all our perceptions together." That's sweet, but terribly naive. Some perceptions are, in fact, simply better than others. Some ideas are better than others.

Some perceptions lead to imaginary and unverifiable notions, that is, some lead to nonsensical foolishness. You can readily test perceptions (and ideas) by collecting evidence, by testing ideas, by asking questions. Some ideas cannot stand up to such scrutiny; others can.

I prefer to choose ideas that can withstand scrutiny. That's why evolution over billions of years is superior to a 6000-year-old earth, for example. Ditto for the big bang vs a divine intelligence.

Answer 6

I wish it was only a matter of perception..... When it comes to be so strict or fanatic to any idea then I consider the person to be deluded, not understanding or does not want to understand. So some are really sick.

Answer 7

{{{Pangel}}} You are a sweet spirited peacemaker at heart. Unfortunately, many people are so convinced that their belief system has a lock on the truth that most have an unteachable spirit. You have to stand for something, or you might fall for anything but that does not mean to turn of your thinking cap!

Answer 8

If we put all the perceptions together we would get the world as we know it. Peace

Answer 9

There would still be arguing...because one man's trash is another man's treasure....

I don't believe the whole "matter of perception" thing when it comes to verifying evidence...because one man's red could be another man's blue...and we all know that red and blue aren't the same thing.....

Answer 10

All the different beliefs are like different colors. Every color is beautiful and important. When all of them are put together we have one unique color: white - bright - Light!

I always say that religion/spirituality/belief are like the light that pass by a prism and become one bright light.

Peace!