Deceiving Perceptions

How many times are we deceived by our perceptions? When assessing people and life situations, I’d say, a lot.

We live in an apparent reality. We look around and what it seems to be may not be: people wear masks; events may have two readings; expressed feelings may have two interpretations; words spoken may have two meanings etc…

A person talks to you and unless you look straight in his eyes (and connect with his soul) you won’t be able to discern if what is being uttered reflects his real thoughts, views, ideals, or feelings…for all we know this person may have created a defence mechanism and built a whole new outer self to conceal his essence. However if you look within the mirror of his soul you’ll realise the discrepancy between what his lips (and/or actions) produce and what his inner self reflects.
You witness a couple quarrelling in the street; the woman slaps the man on his face. Immediately you judge the situation based on what your eyes tell you (“Poor man! She must be a bloody wench to be hitting a man in the middle of the street! Scandalous…I know what I’d do if I were in his place!” or “Poor woman! I bet she caught him in the act…these men are pigs! If I were her I wouldn’t stop there!”). However you should ask yourself what is behind that violent gesture, what triggered it and if you do not reach a conclusion (through the use of your Supra eye) then make no judgements and walk away (for the reason behind this appalling scene may very well be one of the following: A) they’re a couple of actors rehearsing a scene, B) they’re one of those couples who like to fight and slap each other as a form of foreplay, C) they’re psychologists performing an experiment to evaluate human behaviour when facing such episodes).
Somebody eavesdrops a conversation between two people: “Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle which feed among the lilies.” In shock he runs to tell somebody else about it. When the eavesdropper and the person he shared the information with confront the two…they realise how malice can produce misunderstandings for the two people were studying the Song of Songs by Solomon (chapter 4, verse 5).
Two individuals of opposite sex are close friends. They enjoy spending time together and conversing with each other…immediately others assume that romantic intents are being brewed and so they begin to write the script, produce and direct a romantic comedy in their heads; without even bothering to look beyond appearances: the opposite sex friends are gay.
A father takes his daughter to a restaurant where he usually goes with his wife (when their kids are out of town) for he wishes to introduce the oldest of his offspring to his friend (the owner). They sit at a table and ask for his friend (the owner, who is also the chef), who when approaching them overhears the father saying, “I love you!” to his daughter. Perplexed the chef stops and turns away [“I can’t believe he put me in this situation! I actually like his wife!] but then he hears “Pierre! It’s my daughter!” the chef returns with an embarrassed smile on his face and greets his friend…

The above examples go to show that (and here I am going to use one of my favourite Twin Peaks’ line) “The owls are not what they seem!” and that we many times make a fool of ourselves for relying so much on vision and hearing.

Trust is not to be deposited on perceptions alone. If we are to see beyond the apparent reality then trust is to be placed upon the following coalition: senses, reason and intuition.

Image: Meditation on the History of Italy by Francesco Hayez