The abuse of “Perception is Reality”

I’ve heard the saying “Perception is reality” being misused so often that I felt the need to post a rant about it.  Is perception really reality?  The answer is NO!  It’s impossible for this abused statement to be accurate for a lot of reasons.

For starters, let me throw out a few absurd examples that demonstrate the complete lack of reality behind this statement.

Let’s start with this:  If I perceive that everyone loves the president of the USA, does this make it reality?  I think one could obviously conclude that not everyone loves Obama.

Here’s another: If I perceive that your child is a murder, does this make it reality?  I’m also guessing the answer to this is no, heck you may not even have a child which makes this even less of a reality.

The fundamental issue with this statement is the following: Everyone has a different view point from which they stand.   Like it or not people are different and as such people will always view things from a different perspective.  By definition this causes a disconnect in what someone views as reality.

Frankly, I’m tired of hearing this statement being tossed around as if it were true and as if were some words to live by.  Take a step back, think about the statement and I imagine you may come to a similar conclusion and if you’re a frequent user of the statement maybe you’ll slow down a bit?