The Apparent and The Real (1)
A small caravan moving through the Sahara in the hottest months of the year, is nearly out of water. “Aiyeeeee!” shouts the young Arab on the lead camel, “There’s a pool of water right ahead” he says. The caravan leader rides up to him and gazes into the distance, “Nay, Ahmed, it’s a mirage” he responds sadly. Across the six inhabited continents, people, old and young, go about their daily lives, each person forming a perception of the reality he or she encounters. And while having a variety of perceptions of some reality may not necessarily be a problem, living successfully that is; having critical goals come to fruition, in several areas of human life, since at least the 18th century is largely dependent, amongst other things, on how closely perception models reality. And this is rarely as common or as simple as it sounds. Every day, we make assumptions; while watching the ten O’clock news, while listening to that friend lament on the latest problem, while scolding our kids, while listening to that politician do what politicians generally do, while watching that Midfielder make a “selfish” run down the left flank, while eating, while greeting, and while praying. Some of these assumptions have a life of their own, as illustrated by the beauty of cathedrals and the graveness of polling booth. Most are made unconsciously and sometimes well attired in eloquent words. A few are visible to all but the “assumer”. And while assumptions are necessary foundations for any kind of perception, no matter how true it is to reality, in many of the aforementioned scenarios, our assumptions tend to be a product of ridiculous bias, wishful thinking, poor memories, sometimes a persistently lop-sided experience and an incredibly helpful brain. Just think of how many times, you’ve felt non-existent movement in your room at night or how it seems that the beautiful rainbow touches the ground somewhere, over there. We now know that it’s an illusion, but that’s because someone, sometime ago decided to question his perception of reality. And in this single act, lies the key to aligning our perceptions to the reality, on which success largely depends, among other things- applying measures on a perception that differs from reality in as much as a few critical variables, no matter how diligently and prayerfully, is just be as effective as taking paracetamol for typhoid fever. As this is my first article on medium, it is only polite that I make it as short and as entertaining as possible- under 300 words. But here I am, clocking the 400 word mark.(will continue at a later date) Forgive my impropriety.
Having said this, Happy birthday to me.
