Perception is a fickle bitch.

photo by abe novey via flickr creative commons

We “see” the world through our own unique filters and experiences.  That little Stay-Puff Marshmallow between your ears contains some amazing circuitry, capable of firing off millions of messages to our central nervous system.  We are hard wired to identify a potential threat and react – fight, or flight.

What I Imagine My Brain Looks Like                                photo by jack two via flicker creative commons

Who is to say that we actually visualize things in the same way?  It would  explain why people fawn over certain movie celebrities, when I look at the same person and think, “I don’t get it,” or, “What do you see in him?”

from id iom via flickr creative commons

Maybe its something in our individual wiring that makes us see and perceive things differently.  I’ve run into this before.  Check this out:

A dark coastal river on the Northern Jamaican coast

This scene in Jamaica, for example.  Wifey gushed over the tropical foliage and the sunset on soft flowing river.  I saw a place to dump a body.

More recently, we ventured into a secluded redwood grove.  Tall, stately ancient trees with an enveloping sense of peace, she said. Imagine what could hide in the shadows, I said. You decide. And if I lift the hem of my nerd-skirt you can envision an Ewok village tucked into the tree branches.

That got me thinking about perception. Do we really all see the same thing? See it the same way? If we view a thing, or a place and perceive it as beautiful, or ugly, or harsh, are we actually “seeing and processing” the visual information the same way.

Beautiful, or harsh?

Might explain why some people “see” with hatred and bigotry. Racism could be a short-circuit in our perceptional hardwiring, causing different reactions from similar people. Then there is the whole learned behavior side of the issue.

But, the idea of perception and the wiring in our brains, got me noodling on a book idea. If a traumatic brain injury caused a man to change his “perception” of the people around him, how would that change his life? If this re-wiring of his brain allowed him to see people for who they really are; greedy, jealous, deceitful, everything he knew before the injury would change.

I might add that to my To Be Written pile, it might be fun to throw in some paranormal influences in the mix, something I’ve been looking to try for a while.

What about you? Whatcha’ working on?

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