Monday, May 08, 2006

Perception meets Relativity

Two concepts that have kept me amused lately are “relativity” and “perception”.

When I was in grade school, I thought high school kids were SO BIG! I wondered what it would be like to be that age and that knowledgeable. I couldn’t wait to get to be ‘that old’. When I was in college, high school kids suddenly seemed so young and immature.

On a boring day, one hour can feel like eternity. While, on a busy/fun day, one hour flies by faster than a nanosecond! Everything in life is relative to what you compare it against/to.

Similar to relativity is perception. I’ve always heard that perception is reality. What you show people of you is how they view you. Therefore, your vibes are what people perceive as reality. However, we all know that what you THINK you see isn’t always the truth: that girl is snobby, that guy is smart, those two are having an affair, etc. These judgment calls we make are nothing other than how our brain interprets the data (however little that data may be) available to us.

Not everyone really sees the full picture. Not everyone knows why that person behaves in the manner in which they do. Not everyone knows what they go through on a daily basis. Who are we to pass judgment? Yet, in one way or another, we all do!

5 comments:

Temetwir said...

that's because impartiality can not coexist with these two

Dakhtour said...

And I thought You're going to rest your brain :P

Cool post... I Liked it :)

I believe that everyone has the right to judge but he/she should know that it is his/her own opinion and not necessary be the correct one.

Faith said...

Interesting post..reminds me of the elephant/blind men story, theres no such thing as reality, it's all perception, the reality that i see may be different then the reality you see

Unknown said...

You touched on a very sensetive subject that I had trainning. In my profession we really have to make sure that we follow Fair Housing Laws and Perception play a big factor in it.
Our Lawyer was imphasizing on the fact that it's never the question of if you are right or wrong. What matters is how the customer perceived it.
And that's the bottom line!

MSB said...

temetwir: impartiality... wonder how many ppl can actually be impartial?

zizotime: :) ee sa7.. well don't worry.. it's cyclical.. it's back to off again! :) thanks for the comment, but allow me to clarify one thing. i believe God is the only One Who can "Judge" us... we, as people, form opinions, bs malena 7ag na7kom 3al nass.. but yet, because we're human, we do! :/

faith: exactly! i sometimes wonder if what i see as 'red' is what you see as 'red' or if we see different things :)

diamon: exactly.. people believe what they perceive, regardless of whether it's right or wrong!