How close is your perception of reality, to reality?

How would I know? If it’s my perception, doesn’t that preclude me from being able to recognize “reality”, whatever that may be?

I have a hard time with real reality. With all of the pressure for women to be “perfect”, its hard for me to understand that average joes like average janes. Not everyone wants an Angelina Jolie. :P

Can this question really be answered accurately by anyone? Don’t I see my frame of reference through my frame of reference?

Surely my perception of reality is my reality

this question is rather nonsensical, doncha think, as how can we know of any other reality except our own? Even if I were to read another person’s autobiography, and experience their view of their reality, I will still be filtering it through my own views.

@RareDenver It is possible to separate yourself from your emotions to look at things.
@Psychedelic_Zebra Some have called it “walking a mile in someone else’s shoes”.

I just thought about it, and I realized I have been wrong all these years. Thanks for opening my eyes.

Dead on.

A reasonable approximation

@The_Compassionate_Heretic but it would still be me processing information to come to conclusions therefore just my perception of reality no matter how devoid of emotion and critical I try to make my thinking it will still be just that, my thinking.

I reject your reality and substitute my own – which is spot on!

@RareDenver Yes it is still you thinking. We can’t really escape that but how we think may or may not be close to the reality of a situation.
Take for example a hardcore racist:
They might think that all minorities are genetically inferior to their own race.
That’s pretty far off from reality even though that’s the “reality” they’ve decided to live by.

Perhaps this question would be better phrased as “Is your perception of reality deeply affected by emotion? And if so, do you try to see that there might be another side to the way things are?”

And if that were the case, then yes. That’s me.

And if that’s not the case, then I can’t answer this question for the very reasons people like @syz, @holden and @Psychedelic_Zebra have pointed out.

Edit: Hmm… Your latest answer just popped out as I was typing this response. In which case see my second-case scenario.

If we didn’t all perceive reality in similar ways (exactly how similar is open to debate; nevertheless our perceptions must hold a great many commonalities), we wouldn’t be able to communicate as we wouldn’t be able to agree on a point of reference.

How else would a child learn their first language? How else could adults learn a second?

@the100thmonkey Okay… But how does that answer the question? My perception of reality may not be reality. Your perception of reality may not be reality. A whole nation’s perception of reality may not even come close.

Just because we have a common reference point doesn’t have to mean that that reference point is reality.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic Mayhaps it would be good for you to define exactly what you mean by reality. I have a feeling that there’re two parallel discussions going on..

@Saturated_Brain The reference point needs to be something that is relatively constant and all people can observe…..I’d say those qualities match up pretty well with what we would call ‘reality.’

@Saturated_Brain
Using the Israeli/Palestinian conflict as an example, the general Israeli perception is that the Palestinians are in their land illegally and killing Israeli citizens whereas the Palestinian people feel that the Israeli’s are in their land illegally. The perception of reality is very different between the two groups. What’s the reality of that situation? That there is a lot of fighting and dying happening in the region.

I’m not trying to make this a debate about mid east politics, just citing an example where perception of reality differs wildly.

@The_Compassionate_Heretic speaking of hardcore racists we were trapped in our apartment today by lines of police at either end of our street as the EDL and and UAF battled it out in the streets

@The_Compassionate_Heretic Ah… So in that case this isn’t exactly a philosophical discussion on the nature of reality. More of what a certain situation we encounter in our lives really is…

So let me answer the question according to the new parameters.

It differs. I try to see both sides of an issue before passing judgement on what’s really going on, and in that respect I’d say that my perception of that situation comes close to what really is happening. Of course, when dealing with humans intentions and thoughts can be so convoluted that it may be hard for anyone to really know what’s going on.

However, once the issue becomes more personal, I start to lose that objectivity, perhaps obviously so since by definition it’s becoming subjective. Plus, I tend to be quite self-centred (trying hard to change that) which prevents me from seeing issues from other viewpoints. It usually has to take a person to tell me exactly what they think is happening for me to realise where I’ve gone wrong and where different interpretations may come in.

@Shuttle128 Not necessarily.. Have you ever heard of paradigm shifts? Those rascals can seriously mess with our reference points (the shift from the geocentrism [Earth at centre of universe] to heliocentrism [Sun being centre of universe] for example)

@Saturated_Brain Indeed I have, and frankly you are correct. For the most part though, the very basics are fairly unchallenged and have been for a long time.

The only time I notice differences is when someone brings it to my attention… that usually means there’s been some disagreement or confused feelings. I’m reminded lately that I am a “woman after all” and need to hear “woman language” but from my point of view I just need simple clear language. Ah reality, you bastard.

It gets worse and worse with each new beer. Oh well, today is a holiday, so here’s to a new reality!

How do you know what reality is? The only reality one knows is that of their own perception. So, in a way, humans can never really know what true reality is.

I would have to know Reality to compare it with my perceived Reality.
Which I do not.

Reality is relative because people have different and subjective interpretations of their experiences and perceptions. But I am referring only to a person’s social interactions. It is quite different when we talk about the natural world or how we interact with it: society’s cultural level as well as the level of scientific knowledge (and the available technology required to investigate scientific predictions or theories) affect our knowledge (or objective knowledge) of the world.

I think we all have moments of clarity—especially when talking about relations with other people. It’s in those schisms of what we thought we perceived and what we understand we are perceiving that this question lives.

Large-cap Reality is a red-herring, I think.

That said, I think my perception is pretty spot on usually—except if I’m inebriated, in which case I feel like everything I knew is wrong.

I usually take the Taoist view that both perceptions are true, simultaneously.

Since my perception of reality is the only one I truly know to exist, I’m not sure it could be any other way. There is no Objective Reality other than a mutually agreed-upon matrix for common perceptions. I don’t know if your “red” is the same as my “red”.

Reality isn’t exactly a perceivable thing. Wait, I mean: reality is only a perceivable thing. Yeah, that’s better.

The truth is ineffable always &c.

One fatal strategy away.

This question cannot be answered satisfactorily. Perception is all we have, and there is no way of knowing what ‘reality’ is because it is all subject to perception. Modern physics has shown that the properties you attempt to measure affect the properties observed in any experiment. Therefore it is impossible to directly measure reality as if it were something static and constant across all observers.

I may never know.

Seems as if my perception of reality is pretty real. My reality is I am at work and that is my perception as well. My perception of the weather is that it is HOT and the temp is over 100 so I am in the reality again. But my reality says my dog is the most beautiful dog in the world and there are probably others who would say that is not realistic and only my perception.

So the answer to your question depends on what facet of my reality we are dealing with.

@rooeytoo But how do you know it really is 100 degrees? You may have a raging fever and malfunctioning thermometers which give you that impression, while it is really 30 degrees. Or the sensation of temperature itself may be a fabrication of your mind.

@FireMadeFlesh – I just checked the temp on the bom site on the net. I can only assume it is right since the sweat running down my back confirms it. But all could be conspiring to confuse me, it’s not that hard to do, heehehehe!

I like to think that I am a very objective person. Of course my ‘emotional’ perception tends to kick in first, but I am usually able to step back and separate emotion from logic before I form any final conclusions. Unless I’m very, very angry. In those cases, logic often flies right out the window. It comes back when I’ve calmed down, and I’m generally able to acknowledge that I’ve acted irrationally.

Now, others might see me differently. I’ve been called an idealist too many times to discount. Maybe I am… but I believe that I’m a realist and an idealist. I recognize the way things are, but that doesn’t mean they have to stay that way.

I have a gift (or maybe a curse) to be able to see things from several different sides and points of view. (I use this often in my writing as I am able to write from someone else’s perspective.) My initial reaction to things and people may be harsh based on my own experiences, but I never allow that to filter into relationships they may have with others. For example, one ex and I shared many friends. A few of them came to me and told me the horrible things he was saying about me. Now, I had the opportunity to bad-mouth him as well, and I even had proof to show the things he had done, but I chose not to. In fact, if they did bring him up (which I asked them not to) I only spoke of his positive qualities.

Perhaps I ventured away from the actual question a bit…. I’d say my perception of reality is only as good as the people around me.

The Prisoner really helps answer this. You should check it out. I can’t get the measurement on the bubble he falls into, but the Twin Towers look like they’re never gonna get there. But we shall see…. Sunday’s at 10pm on AMC

“Spot on” when I simply experience it.

Way off whenever I think about it.