Yes, perception is everything. Many people can all look at the same thing and see different things. But I think it is more amazing when many people look at the same thing and see, more or less, the same thing with trivial differences.
Two mathematicians can discuss an incredibly complex mathematic concept using mere words, where the uninitiated would not understand a thing. Several people can sit around a table and chat for hours, whereas a person who doesn't speak that language would not take away anything from that conversation.
I think of perception as a process in the human mind, and it is remarkable that the process of perception can be similar enough between members of a group to the point that communication, interaction, and understanding between those people can be possible at all. It is all part of our instinctively social nature.
It just goes to show that everything humans think, and by extension everything we perceive, relies on a very, very, large set of commonly understood assumptions that are defined by culture, language, and other such shared knowledge.
__________________
---
(By the way, it's all in your head.) |