PERCEPTION

Perception is reality filtered through all your prejudices. The narrower your mind, the more you miss; the less in touch you are with how things really are.

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Every war is based on conflicting perceptions of reality. If you took people’s ideas about life away, they would have nothing to fight for.

Step number one in resolving any conflict – within a family, within the workplace, or between nations – is to separate the individual from the idea. Once you have done this, you get them to question the validity of the idea. By asking them questions like: why is this idea so important to you? If this idea – if it didn’t exist – what would that mean to you? How would you see life then?

As best you can, get people to recognise that how they perceive the world isn’t the world. Through which they might actually start to get how ludicrous it is to attack people because they see life differently.

And get them to engage in this question instead: if you could have any idea about life, any idea about life, what would it be?

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True perception is this: that you can see the very worst in people and in life, and you can see the very best in people and in life, and everything in between. And you recognise that none of it is true. And you recognise that you can choose any way of looking at any thing that you want.

And so you choose what serves you and other people best.

© Phillip A. Klein March 2008