Things so often come off as how we personally like to perceive them. This is neither their nor our problem. Humans are organisms which tend to link deeper meanings to things that are shallow by means of existencial significance. I believe that is because it is difficult to not form any prejudice against anything while actively ‘’living’’. Experiences result in new findings and we may not like what we have found. But it is undeniable that the experience itself isn’t the same for everyone, let alone the ‘’result’’ or ‘’findings’’. Hence, treating a bunch of people the exact same way would drive them mad. This is a question I’ve been asking myself a lot lately. If people don’t percieve m
e as the same exact person, if my aura and atmosphere isn’t the same around different people then who am I?
As I said, I thought about this a lot. And by ‘’ a lot ‘’ I mean every night after having to meet with people and calmly observe them and even myself wear masks that help us hide the unpleasant parts of ourselves. Do we start out as an imposter of ourselves or do we just get more real with time? Would I be able to state my ideas as is, if that mask I’m wearing dropped and revealed my real face? After hours of thinking, I found myself an answer which was enough to satisfy me. The first answer I found was that I was a mixture of some sort. But upon inspecting further, I came up with a better explanation. I call it the ‘’ Schrödinger’s Personality’’. It basically revolves around the idea that I am simultaneously every single thing that I was, I am and I will be. This automatically makes perception nothing to me and everything to everyone else around me.
The other thing I want to address about perception and psychology is how we choose to use it in our advantage. We use the term ‘’manipulation’’ as someting negative. If something is manipulated it is not the thing it was before, it is completely annihilated and replaced. But the truth couldn’t be farther from that. I, personally, used to refrain my thoughts from being manipulated and tried my hardest to not manipulate anyone. I thought that I shouldn’t have a saying in anyones life, ever. Even though I still think I don’t, I simply cannot ban myself from expressing my ideas in a way that inspires others. In the end, the universe has to react to you. Most of the time it reacts so sneakily you cannot identify it. But when you do, you either call it ‘’inspiration’’ or ‘’manipulation’’. The paradox here is that they are the same thing. Inspiration manipulates you into thinking that you were free to construct any ideas about a certain topic whereas manipulation just doesn’t give you a choice and admits that it doesn’t. Inspiration is just the twin sister of manipulation wearing a hero cape.
To us, humans, things are good or bad, beneficial or a plain waste of time. Simple as that. Our minds disregard the grey areas between the two. Things are not ‘’negative’’ or ‘’positive’’, they are just what they are. No deeper meaning, no implementation. When something gets labeled in a certain way, the exact opposite of it doesn’t fail to arise. The source of most of human pyschological issues start from here.
I believe our perception is slippery and not to be trusted upon. I don’t know if our humanity will let us get rid of that perception but there is certainly something we can do: Embracing the duality. The duality of me being me and the polished version of myself at the same time and the duality of every single thing that has ever impacted someone regardless of them being positive or negative. There is a duality to everything and there is no simpler way to put it.
“When the people of the world all know beauty as beauty, there arises the recognition of ugliness. When they all know the good as good, there arises the recognition of evil.’’
Lao Tzu