No two people see reality in exactly the same way. The same event, viewed by ten different people, will be perceived in ten different, sometimes wildly different ways.
That point has been made many, many times, by many, many people, including me. The problem is that we use different language to refer to the same thing… the beliefs, opinions, prior knowledge, and other internal factors that color our perception of reality. I generally vary between two words to describe this: filters or lenses. For me, the difference is that filters refer to individual beliefs, opinions, etc., where when I use lens, I’m generally speaking of the entire collection of such things that belongs to one person.
Other people use other labels, such as mental maps, “centers”, etc. But it’s all referring to that set of internal factors that are what makes your perception of reality unique. Unfortunately, the profusion and variety of lables may cause some people to think that they all refer to different things, and therefore scatter their efforts amongst all the labels and techniques to become aware of them, or just give up the whole concept as something too difficult for them.
Perhaps if there were one agreed upon term, that would make it easier for more people to begin (or extend) the process of becoming aware of the things that color their perceptions of reality. Standardizing terms makes it easier, in fact possible, to communicate… if you don’t have certain words and their definitions in common, it is impossible to communicate a concept. If, for instance, what I call black is what you call white, then when I refer to “a black car”, you’ll never get the message that I was trying to send.
The same goes for terms in regards to perception… if you don’t understand what I mean when I say the lens through which you perceive reality, then any further discussion on the topic is futile. If I don’t know what you mean when you say “centers”, in regards to perception, then I won’t understand anything else that you say that depends upon that concept.
The problem here is the same as with perception, though… we all perceive the things which affect our perception differently, and with different previous experience, so the term that suits the concept best is not the same from person to person. So even if you understand what I mean when I say lens, it may not help YOU that much, though it might be perfect for your best friend. And in matters of perception, what works for you is more important than an agreed upon standard. Whatever concept allows you to start finding, acknowledging, and altering your own personal collection of beliefs, opinions, and other internal factors in influencing your perception is the right concept (or term) for you.
So… what’s in a name when it comes to perception? Everything and nothing… it can “make it click” for you, so that you understand, but once you understand the idea, the name no longer matters… you translate it automatically. If my “filters” and “lenses” don’t work for you, you could try Stephen Covey‘s centers from 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People (Amazon aff). If those don’t work, either, I’m quite certain there are many, many other terms and concepts out there for you to try… or you can always do what I did, and come up with your own.
If you do have other terms you use, or terms from other people, please feel free to share them and link to them in the comments… provided the sites linked to are clean.
