What makes us human? The fact that we are part of the species called homo sapiens. What makes us differ from the human next to us? The fact that we perceive the world in our own different ways. What makes life interesting? The fact that humans have colliding opinions, differing thoughts, differing ideologies.
Perception enables us to move forward as a race, while at the same time, hindering us. While perception makes us versatile as a species, it renders us rigid, unmalleable. While we have entrepreneuring people conjuring up different ideas of potential life-changing technology, we have hordes of people organising serial terrorist attacks to uphold their perception of religion or god. Perception is what makes our world dynamic.
If we look at human life from the grand scheme of things, all our problems are insignificant. It is true that 99% of our stress and worries comes from looking at life from a microscopic point of view. If we think positively enough, a barren heath can be the beautiful Namib desert, but then again, it's just an infertile piece of land. If we search hard enough we can find hope in the toughest of times, but what's the point, it's just another trial, another tribulation.
The best part about perception is that, to an extent, we can CHOOSE how we perceive. How does perception develop in the first place though? According to Piaget's theory of schema, humans assimilate new concepts by using previously learnt information to make sense of it. For example, a child seeing a zebra for the first time, may call it a horse. When the child realises that the animal isn't indeed a horse, but a zebra, the child will accommodate the information, in other words, alter pre-existing conceptual networks to learn the new information. However, this process of accommodation isn't too easy, as we fall prey to annoying cognitive biases like the confirmation or misinformation bias. But, let it never be said that we are mere passive recipients of knowledge, we are actually constantly attempting to understand the world around us.
Perception defines a person. It moulds the reality that we perceive, the choices that we make and eventually the type life that we lead. Or at least, the type of life we perceive to lead.
"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven out of hell, and a hell out of heaven." — John Milton
And this is what my blog is going to be about. Just my perceptions of the world, things that I hear around and really stick to me. Thanks for making it till here, lol.