Is there anything beyond human perception?
in Philosophy ·
Lawrence Robinson5 said:One of the answers to this (which leans heavily into quantum mechanics and increasingly into certain branches of psychology) goes like this:
Perception doesn't perceive what is given; it creates that "given." Our senses are the architects of reality.
Think about that famous experiment involving electrons being fired through two slits onto a screen, which yields two different results: when we aren't monitoring what’s happening during the experiment, the traces on the screen show interference patterns—basically energy in its most fundamental form. But the moment we observe the process itself, they show the traces of material particles. Is that just a coincidence? No way in hell...
The lesson here is: paying attention means making things concrete. And once you realize that, the question "what should we be seeing?" turns into a total farce... because it's like asking, "well, what am I supposed to be thinking?" It comes down to free will: in perceiving, in thinking, and in acting... we are beings that manifest ourselves in the most fundamental sense of the word.
In this way, every observer—anyone who directs their attention—is an active participant in constructing "reality." Reality is exactly what we see it to be, but that doesn't mean it looks the same to another observer. Nor does it mean one version is any less real than another. There are overlaps and alignments, sure, but also massive differences...
On top of that: there's a huge difference between seeing—creating—and then interpreting what has been created. It’s this closed loop where the creation is constantly being re-examined and reshaped...
Asking "am I really seeing what I think I'm seeing?" is just a fast track to uncertainty and feeling powerless. Only a positive response, an affirmation, allows us to take what we've seen and keep building and moving forward... if we deny that, we're basically stripping away the foundation we need to build our own lives.
🙂
That’s how it works. We create... by paying attention or through perception, we determine or shape the indefinite and the formless, thereby constructing our own world... our own reality... both as individuals and as a collective.
There is value in creating 😉... which involves experimentation (both good and evil)...
But perhaps the best thing is to understand this self-creation itself...
It’s much like a painter. It’s good for them to paint... and perhaps, in a moment of total immersion, to lose themselves in the work so it becomes a perfect reflection of them... but ultimately, they must remain aware that they are the painter and the painting is their work... a representation of what lies within them, brought forth by their hand. The painting is essentially the internal made external so that it can be seen.
Reality, then, is the internal, while the external is merely its image... when in truth, they are one indivisible whole. The image is a projection... a beam of light (consciousness) cast onto a canvas (consciousness)... nothing more.🙂
So, what is it that we do, always and without exception?
We constantly make the invisible visible... the formless formed... the silent audible... all so that we might see ourselves... or
what we already are...
Affirmation is useful as long as it serves its purpose. But if it is used merely to cement a reality (or an image) at any cost, it becomes like some hundred-year-old socialite who has undergone so many plastic surgeries that she's literally falling apart—losing noses, ears, hands, and feet like something out of a horror movie...
I saw it once, but I can't remember what it was called.🙂