“You will find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view” – Obi Wan Kenobi

I couldn’t have said it better myself. Truth is not as cut and dried as many people seem to think. Just because someone tells you something is true, doesn’t mean that it actually is. How many times has someone told you their truth, and in your mind you were thinking that it was only an opinion?

Facts are different than truths. They can be proven. Facts have empirical data backing them up. Anyone who is told that something is a fact will agree. Not everyone agrees about truth, because truth is subjective.

It all comes down to individual perception. Depending on your perception of the world, even facts may seem false to you. Human beings can only perceive a small fraction of what is going on around them. We only see a very small part of the electromagnetic spectrum and we can’t hear all the frequencies of sound. We can’t smell pheromones like a dog can and we can’t feel the minute vibrations surrounding us like a spider can.This limitation is compounded by our genetics, environment and experience. If you are colorblind or standing in the rain then obviously your perceptions are limited.

But what if your limitation is the fact that you were trained from a young age to believe that someone else’s truth is a fact? What kind of limitations on your perception are in place if you think for example that all rottweilers are aggressive? That would lead you to believe all kinds of “truths” about rottweilers and dogs in general wouldn’t it? That would lead you to the experiences that prove your “truth”. You would see aggressive rottweilers everywhere, to you even the friendly ones would seem aggressive to you. You would start to think that your truth is a fact, regardless of anyone’s statements to the contrary.

So the question becomes “How can I overcome the perceptual distortions and limitations?”. You must train yourself to attempt to examine things differently than you did in the past. You need to question all the things that you were taught at a young age. To continue our example, if you see a rottweiler ask yourself it it actually IS aggressive or if it only looks that way because of your past experience. I personally have known many friendly rottweilers and even one who seemed to think he was a lapdog. There is nothing quite like a hundred pound dog sitting on your lap licking your face.

Question truths, open your eyes. The world isn’t quite what you think.

dracoselene

I'm an artist, writer, ordained interfaith minister, veteran, spiritualist, androgyne, and piles of other labels that never seem to fit. I'm following my passion and attempting to make myself and the world a better place. I think that through compassion and understanding we can all become one unified race of human beings, and life is better when you remember to play.