Perception
If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is: infinite. ~ English poet William Blake
Perception is the mental process of integrating sensory intake using memory. Sensation and perception are processes of discerning abstractions which highlight certain data as important while disregarding most input. Repeated perceptions create sequential composite representations, rendering time as a flow; whence the internal record of our life is fabricated.
The world presents itself to consciousness only after being mediated by mental structures and processes. ~ Irish psychologist Sean Nuallain
Perception is our only portal to the world. As the mind is the vehicle of perception, we naïvely trust it to yield accurate facts. Instead, the mind incessantly fabricates as it sees fit.
Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth. ~ Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius
In finding meaning and attaching emotion to perception, mentation puts manifestation at a further remove from sensation. Because phenomena are products of perception, our meaningful experiences are entirely symbolic.
Psychologically, we are very subjective beings, always looking for a meaning to our existence. We often compile fragmented data from our senses to construct an artificial whole, sometimes initiating very strange decisions and actions. We are excellent at adapting reality to our personal maps, remembering selectively and putting new facts into old moulds. Facts are generally interpreted to our own advantage. What is unknown frightens us and we attempt to neutralize it by creating myths, rituals and traditions. ~ Swedish systems analyst Lars Skyttner
