by Caroline Tigeress

Created on: July 10, 2009

When we consider that the truth is subjective and not empirical, the question then becomes moot. My truth is different than your truth, which is different than the truth of the poster above, and below me.

As a professionally trained fine artist, when I watch a sunrise, my mind immediately dissects all of the colors, and in turn can translate them to paper.

My lover's mind goes, 'pretty'. This person is not a classically trained artist. Yes, we can agree that it's a sunset. We're both using the same language and are viewing the same event in time. The way our mind processes that is a whole 'nother beast.

When people are raised, for example, in the same culture, the same language, and even in the same geographical reference, the odds are very good that they will have similar perspectives. By that same token, because of the difference in the way the optic nerve interprets that information from person to person, the experience could be quite different.

Consider, a blind person. A one-hundred percent loss of vision, since birth would have no idea of the concept of color. To them, a sunrise is a matter of temperature difference, possibly being able to sense a difference in wind. Hearing senses would deliver birds warning other birds of an intrusion into their territory, things of that nature.

I could begin to describe to them the concepts of magenta, heavenly oranges and exquisite violets, it would be about as useful as a male explaining to a female the concept of ejaculation. If I don't have that basis of knowledge, the communication simply does not occur

Again, the truth is subjective, not empirical.

We create, alter, believe in, and manipulate our own realities. It is the nature of the beast to do so. An excellent example of this is the concept of anthropomorphic characters in various cultures.

In the oriental mythologies, Dragons are often not winged, can be good or evil, speak commonly with human beings, and have been known to deliver goods and services.

In the western mythologies, Dragons are often evil destroyers, consumers of fair maidens, hoarders of gold and treasures.

Take the case of identical twins. One goes to, say, Law school. The other becomes a mechanic. Yes, they had the same upbringing, identical genetic structure, but once different ideals form, different values form, then their individual realities too, will change.

All we can hope to do, in conclusion is to try to be as tolerant as possible to other people's realities, and work not toward homogenizing the population, but being able to respect other perspectives.

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