Moccasins and Perception
// October 1st, 2007 // Comments Off // General
Free will means that I am free to attend to (pay attention to, or perceive) any input or stimulus which my sensory tools are able to distinguish as separate from all incoming information. Perception is not equal to reality; reality cannot be perceived with any degree of simultaneous accuracy by any two people, much less a community (be it a religious or a scientific community, or mixed or blended of both). The previous statements cannot even be proven or disproven based on our assumptions of perception and free will and accuracy. Neither scientific reasoning nor religious belief can be possible without information, perception, evidence, assumptions, and conclusions about “reality.” Community is only possible by assuming that our perceptions about reality are similar enough to be shared and therefore accurate.
My perception of reality is completely defined by my very unique set of life experiences, culture, point of entry into space and time, moral values, lifestyle, habits, relationships including son, sibling, friend, enemy, foreigner, believer, member, husband, father, teacher, colleague, etc. Therefore, the reality which I am currently perceiving can only be shared by another person on the most elementary level. No one can walk in my moccasins; I can not see through the eyes of another. I can only make the attempt, and see what happens.
My current conclusions about reality are that I can spend what’s left of my time on earth dissecting the perceived realities of other communities and my own; OR, go with what I “know” to be true, and act on it; and that I would rather GO and ACT, than be dissected, or be one of the dissectors. At alternating intervals, however, I do both the acting, and the dissecting.
