Sunday Stream (34) ~ A perception of Perception
Posted: June 12th, 2005, 11:55 am
A perception of Perception
We rely on our senses to make sense of the world in which we live. See, smell, hear, touch, taste - we use our given senses to absorb the world, however broad or narrow, however deep or high our perceptions allow. Our perceptions are defined by our senses and our senses are 'fed' by the perceptions of what we intuit, which is sometimes ignored in favor of what we perceive is something bigger and better than what we need This can be attributed to the balance (or not) of the senses. If we put too much reliance upon one sense the other senses, like unused muscles, lose their strength.
We live in a very powerful see/hear society, mostly because of television/movies... our sense of sight combined with the sense of hearing are the only two senses at play in those two - tv and movies. There is no sense of smell, taste or touch involved - they are weakened.
In an evolutionary view, this can be seen as a detriment to the human species. Born with five senses to enhance our perceptions, we have whittled them down to two prime senses to define our immediate world. The sense of touch is still important, but only when we are not seeing and listening to the television or watching a movie... or even reading this computer monitor!
The sense of smell is our weakest sense in the modern age. The see/hear world sells us smell enhancements (colognes and perfumes, deodorants for our bodies and deodorizers for our homes and automobiles) to stimulate the weakened sense of smell. The 'old days' simply relied on cleanliness to enhance the sense of smell.
The sense of touch is still strong, although even that is more focused on personal relationships. To touch someone outside of our personal lives carries a somewhat eyebrow-lifting response - we don't touch the soft cheek of a child, we don't touch the shoulder of our politicians, we don't touch the back of our priests. These are considered to be not polictically correct
Taste is even controlled by our modern diets. No matter our social background we are conditioned to certain tastes - what tastes good to one can easily be disgusting to another, even though both are human beings with, if not identical, similar bodily needs to sustain our lives. How much of our own modern society determines our enjoyment of grilled dead cow muscle with a thick slice of cheese made from the same cow? Or conversely our possible dislike for, let's say, broccoli... a vegetable that I bet very few could say what smell it has or even explain it's taste convincingly.
So it is with our heightened sense of sight and hearing that determines to a large degree the perceptions we have that drive our desires. We must look good and sound professional. These two qualities have become the ideal. If we don't look sharp our credibilty suffers. If we don't sound convincing our message is not heard. It makes little difference if we hear well, if we touch warmly or even if our sense of smell is acute. These other three senses are not nearly important for our social survival, i.e., our financial well-being.
There are those that see humanity not as evolving but de-volving. It is an interesting theory and may even be more than a 'theory'. Our devolution may be exactly what is happening. There are certainly signs that may point in that direction - our irrresponsible use of the earth, our dangerous and deadly choices of energies to 'better' our lives, our war machines, the distrust of our fellow man... the list is plentiful if we look and listen to those with more sharpened perceptions. But the vast majority see and hear only others with the same level of perception as they do - heavy on the see/hear... and very light on the other three senses.
The same majority will say things like "this makes no sense..." or "what a senseless act!" or even "what kindda sense does that make?" when trying to understand those within that same majority. Is it not clear that the reason "it makes no sense" is that all the senses are not being used? If all our given senses were alive and functioning as they should, perhaps things would 'make more sense'. If our senses become dulled so do our perceptions, and it is our very perceptions that rule our way of thinking.
Sharpened perceptions clarify our lives. When our perceptions are broader than our two heavily used senses (see/hear), we have a greater understanding of ourselves and our place in the world... and indeed the scheme of things. We do have choice - evolve using 100% or our senses or continue devolving using but 40% of our senses.
Cecil
12 June 2005
Perception: 'House of God' or the limitations of our spirituality?
We rely on our senses to make sense of the world in which we live. See, smell, hear, touch, taste - we use our given senses to absorb the world, however broad or narrow, however deep or high our perceptions allow. Our perceptions are defined by our senses and our senses are 'fed' by the perceptions of what we intuit, which is sometimes ignored in favor of what we perceive is something bigger and better than what we need This can be attributed to the balance (or not) of the senses. If we put too much reliance upon one sense the other senses, like unused muscles, lose their strength.
We live in a very powerful see/hear society, mostly because of television/movies... our sense of sight combined with the sense of hearing are the only two senses at play in those two - tv and movies. There is no sense of smell, taste or touch involved - they are weakened.
In an evolutionary view, this can be seen as a detriment to the human species. Born with five senses to enhance our perceptions, we have whittled them down to two prime senses to define our immediate world. The sense of touch is still important, but only when we are not seeing and listening to the television or watching a movie... or even reading this computer monitor!
The sense of smell is our weakest sense in the modern age. The see/hear world sells us smell enhancements (colognes and perfumes, deodorants for our bodies and deodorizers for our homes and automobiles) to stimulate the weakened sense of smell. The 'old days' simply relied on cleanliness to enhance the sense of smell.
The sense of touch is still strong, although even that is more focused on personal relationships. To touch someone outside of our personal lives carries a somewhat eyebrow-lifting response - we don't touch the soft cheek of a child, we don't touch the shoulder of our politicians, we don't touch the back of our priests. These are considered to be not polictically correct
Taste is even controlled by our modern diets. No matter our social background we are conditioned to certain tastes - what tastes good to one can easily be disgusting to another, even though both are human beings with, if not identical, similar bodily needs to sustain our lives. How much of our own modern society determines our enjoyment of grilled dead cow muscle with a thick slice of cheese made from the same cow? Or conversely our possible dislike for, let's say, broccoli... a vegetable that I bet very few could say what smell it has or even explain it's taste convincingly.
So it is with our heightened sense of sight and hearing that determines to a large degree the perceptions we have that drive our desires. We must look good and sound professional. These two qualities have become the ideal. If we don't look sharp our credibilty suffers. If we don't sound convincing our message is not heard. It makes little difference if we hear well, if we touch warmly or even if our sense of smell is acute. These other three senses are not nearly important for our social survival, i.e., our financial well-being.
There are those that see humanity not as evolving but de-volving. It is an interesting theory and may even be more than a 'theory'. Our devolution may be exactly what is happening. There are certainly signs that may point in that direction - our irrresponsible use of the earth, our dangerous and deadly choices of energies to 'better' our lives, our war machines, the distrust of our fellow man... the list is plentiful if we look and listen to those with more sharpened perceptions. But the vast majority see and hear only others with the same level of perception as they do - heavy on the see/hear... and very light on the other three senses.
The same majority will say things like "this makes no sense..." or "what a senseless act!" or even "what kindda sense does that make?" when trying to understand those within that same majority. Is it not clear that the reason "it makes no sense" is that all the senses are not being used? If all our given senses were alive and functioning as they should, perhaps things would 'make more sense'. If our senses become dulled so do our perceptions, and it is our very perceptions that rule our way of thinking.
Sharpened perceptions clarify our lives. When our perceptions are broader than our two heavily used senses (see/hear), we have a greater understanding of ourselves and our place in the world... and indeed the scheme of things. We do have choice - evolve using 100% or our senses or continue devolving using but 40% of our senses.
Cecil
12 June 2005
Perception: 'House of God' or the limitations of our spirituality?
