Shared Illusions

The three people charged with the responsibility of determining the outcome of a boxing match are judges. All three individuals watch the same exact event yet it is more common than not for each person to render a different judgment. Since no two brains are alike, no two people ever 'see' the same thing. When enough people in a group create similar enough visions off of the same stimulus, we call this culture. Essentially, they are shared illusions created by their subjective brains. All humans have the same sensory modalities that operate in the same manner. It is a process that is prone to error in us all because these modalities process limited bits of information. The filters we all have that 'color' the information we process is uniquely subjective and operates well below our level of cognition. This is why people subjected to the same stimulus yield different experiences. We experience these things as being so real that it is not comprehensible that we subjectively create them, but this is exactly what we do. Think of a debate. Observe all the debates that are occurring as election season ramps up. It could be on any topic in any forum. All parties involved in a debate are basically expressing their perspective in hopes that the other party will see things their way and experience a paradigm shift. But this seldom, if ever, happens. At some point the information itself even becomes irrelevant and gives way to theatrics of perception. Illusions have their place in our lives when we look to step outside certain boundaries to create. This is a gift. It is a fine line between this and delusion. It is often said that the difference between the mad scientist and the successful inventor is just one failed experiment. Understanding this about ourselves yields two distinct benefits. One, you will be more understanding of both yourself and others, and two is you will open yourself up to accept new information and knowledge because you accept that many beliefs, perspectives, and opinions you have are nothing more than shared illusions.