The Problem with Perception (Part 2 of 6)

Apples, Flowers, and Rocks

If I were to ask you right now what your problem is, most likely you would tell me, and you would use words to do it. The words in and of themselves are not the problem. They’re symbols, nothing more and nothing less. As symbols they are the means by which you attempt to share an idea. Communication is sharing. Effective communication is the joining of minds. It is the sharing beyond the symbol that unites minds in one thought. The problem lies in the link, the connection, between minds. When you share your problem with me, what is shared is dependent on the definition of the words in your mind, the definition of the words in my mind and whatever commonality may exist between the two. It isn’t exact. In fact, it is quite faulty. (Ask any lawyer or politician.) Not only are the words symbols but the ideas that they represent are symbols. The sounds of the letters that make the word “bird” are not a bird. Neither the idea of the bird in your mind nor the idea of the bird in my mind is the bird. The bird is at least twice removed from the symbol leaving plenty of room for error. Communication, as we experience it, is problematic right from the get-go.

Just as words are symbols, so are the things, concepts, and actions that they symbolize. Think of an apple. The image is a symbol. It carries with it all that you think about apples, the texture, taste, color, etc. It carries all of the experiences that you’ve had with an apple, the cool crisp ones, the mushy bland ones, the sour green ones, etc. I like apples. My mom liked apples. Adam ate from the apple. We could go on and on. In fact, symbols carry an infinite amount of information. How so? Think about what the apple is not. Every symbol carries that information as well.

Now think about a beautiful still life painting of an apple. Any difference? Again, this is a symbol, and all of the same thoughts apply. Think of a child’s drawing of an apple. Is it any less a symbol, because some of us may not recognize it as an apple? Is your thought of the child’s painting any different from an actual child’s painting? As a symbol of an apple, no. If a symbol says “apple” to the perceiver, that’s what it is. A symbol is a symbol, nothing more and nothing less. We decide the meaning. The meaning is the content of the symbol. This is what it represents to us, what its purpose is in our mind.

Now, think about a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Each of us will likely picture a different form. Some will imagine roses, while others will imagine tulips or a mixed spring bouquet. For many, the content of this symbol is romance, a gesture of thanks, etc. I have a girlfriend for whom the symbol carries a very different content. While married, her husband would bring her flowers after he cheated on her or abused her in some way. She really dislikes flowers. Same symbol; different content. She happens to like rocks, so a gesture of romance or thanks for her might be a cool piece of petrified wood or a fossil of some sort.

So, how do we determine what these symbols mean? Well, to start with, we always rely on the past. My girlfriend’s relationship with flowers depends solely on what happened in the past. For that matter, so does everybody else’s relationship with flowers. We know that flowers are beautiful or special, because we’ve learned these things in the past. The majority of our lives is spent analyzing and categorizing symbol after symbol after symbol. We reinforce these symbols every time we use them, adding layer upon layer upon layer.

Now, try to imagine for a moment that you can’t rely on your past learning to inform this present moment. Close your eyes for a second. When you open them, imagine that you have no idea what anything you see is or means. None of it. Everything is new. How does that feel? Frightening? Peaceful? Powerful? How would my friend react to a flower now? Do you think she would believe it beautiful? How would she know? If she couldn’t rely on her past learning, would she even know if a flower was beautiful or repulsive? Spend a little time today in that rabbit hole.

We can’t depend on the body’s eyes to tell us what we see. The body’s eyes always stop at form. It is the mind that decides what they see, and the mind’s judgment is always based on the past. Everything we perceive is a symbol with a meaning that we decide, a form with a content of our choosing. There isn’t a thing, concept, experience, etc. that isn’t a symbol of a thought in our mind. Mindful perception is the awareness that we supply content. We give purpose. Now, we’re playing with real power.