FIVE WORDS – PERCEPTION

Too often, this word is associated with “belief” or “opinion”. When someone says, “Well, that’s how I perceive it.” For the purposes of this post, and coming from a writer, I take it to mean something closer to “visual input”.

We have to be able to look at the world around us, not just as it is, but as it was prior to our relationship with it, as well as what it could be beyond us. An item that you see must be more than it exists in terms of form, material, and usage. Now, you might get some disagreement from Gertrude Stein whose “A rose is a rose is a rose” relates to the Law of Identity.

And, perhaps, artistic types do go overboard at times, creating obtuse and abstract personal symbols which the reader (or viewer) cannot possibly relate to. I look back upon some of my poems from thirty years ago and realize I need a copy of Bulfinch’s Mythology just to understand what I wrote.

By the same token, perhaps we need to try harder to look upon the everyday things we see in order to perceive them under different circumstances. When I lived in Boston, I had the same walk to work for close to a year. And yet, I made every effort to look at my journey in a different way as much as possible. Sometimes, I would focus on the ground. Often, I would look up at residences and businesses whose buildings were utterly fascinating from both an architectural as well as historical perspective. Naturally, I looked at people, without staring or being invasive.

What we see and hear and smell in a simple walk informs us as human beings. Without a deep-rooted inquiry or interview, there is so much we can deduce from the world around us if only we take the time to do so.