A matter of perspective

As a student of psychology, and a generally curious person, I often wonder about people and why they think and do the things that they do. I put a great deal of thought into understanding the perspectives of others and their basis for beliefs. There are very specific examples that I have in mind, but before it will make much sense (or at least illustrate the complexity of the situation) I will need to add some background information.

We, as individuals, experience our own unique version of reality. Every living creature has their own take on the world, and depending on your species and circumstances, will see the world in very different ways. Take, for example, the honeybee. The world that they experience looks very different from the world that we do because their vision is in infrared, whereas our visual systems only detect visible light. Although a human and a honeybee share the same environment, and may look at the same flower, the experience is vastly different due to perspective. Below is a picture of a daisy in infrared, as a bee would see it.

 

Interestingly, bees can't see the color red because the wavelength of light is too low for their visual receptors to detect. It is not under dispute that the color red no longer exists, just because bees can't see it; rather, it is a matter of perception.

Another example is that of frogs. They are able to see objects in motion, but not objects that are still. Therefore, a frog cannot see a dead fly. Again, few would claim that the fly fails to exist just because it is not moving, but that is the reality for a frog. 

One of our advantages as human beings, I think, is our capacity for thinking about these things objectively, but how objectively can we really see the world? After all, we are only seeing it from our own small angle, using only the information we have encountered previously in our lives to understand the world as we see it. Seeing the world from a different angle is not intuitive, and may not even be entirely possible to do. What troubles me, however, is that so many people take their own version of reality as the one, solid reality-- and anything that does not conform to that standard is wrong, out of place. To me it is both troubling and completely understandable. 

There are so many complex human issues that arise because of this matter of perception, this inability to relate to a reality that does not conform to one's own version of it. Religion is the first thing that comes to my mind, although the list is probably endless. I am not a big fan of religion, not because of the belief itself (which I think is a perfectly fine thing to have) but that tendency, and in most cases obligation, to ostracize those beliefs which do not conform to its own standard of "reality." 

The truth is, reality is different for every species, and probably every individual member within a species. The only standard we have is based on what we have seen and experienced, and that is a very narrow band compared to what actually exists as a whole. So the next time you are certain that you are right, try to think about it from another point of view. I have, by no means, given credit to the immense complexity of this idea, but it's a start. Just try to see things from another point of view once in a while. I try to do so whenever possible, and it has really changed how I think about the world.

Off my soapbox for now!