The Perception Box

 Naturally, my emotions are very raw at this point.

What point?
The point where I am dealing with the declining health—and mental health—of my mother. I’ve moved her out of her own home forever. We’ve even discontinued many of the services.

I heard a researcher say something earlier, and I will roughly quote them here:

“We perceive the world through our perception-box, and what we see is determined by our emotions and collective, cultural emotions.”
~ Unknown researcher (paraphrased)

Owen Barfield said this in the 1950s. Plato said it thousands of years ago. Bruce Lipton says it all the time.

But of course, they all use different words.
Bruce Lipton, for example, uses words like culture and environment almost interchangeably. That’s mainly because his epiphany came while studying the effects of varied cultures on cells in literal petri dishes.

We often use the word culture to refer to our social situations. But Lipton points out that this is, in fact, a very fitting use of the word.

Introducing emotions as a lens, though—that’s fairly new to me. But I think it’s a valuable clue. And I think I needed it now.

Today is the day I heard the term “Perception-Box” for the very first time. And already, it’s changing the way I perceive the way we perceive.

I’ll do my best to explain it as I understand it:

The perception box is an imaginary boundary, and you are within one. It’s just big enough for your physical body, and it’s flexible enough for you to stretch your limbs—but it still defines your boundary. So, while the box is always there, you’re never really aware of it.

The purpose of this box is to filter the entire outside world so that it fits within the space where your brain can reproduce it.

An easy, measurable example of this filter is to consider a sound your pet can hear—but that you cannot. That sound exists outside your box, filtered out because your brain lacks the capacity to reproduce it in your “radar-room.” This sound is what we’d call ultrasonic. Dogs, however, have a wider frequency range. Therefore, within your invisible perception-box, the sound of a typical dog whistle is simply not there. If your dog could talk, you might even argue about it.

This is an example of an evolutionary adaptation—a survival advantage that allowed a species to detect smaller animals through sound.

Evolution filters all sensory data through your perception-box on a need-to-know basis.

All of this fits neatly within any decent Darwinian model—until you bring emotions into the concept.

Not so fast.

Fear is an emotion, and it seems to play a role in this frequency filtering. Threat detection varies by species. Check.
Disgust is an emotion—and it’s been shown to protect us from pathogens. Check.

Of course, there are other emotions we could consider, but it’s already clear that we are wired for action based on emotion.

Now I’m getting closer to what Lipton teaches. Here it is, condensed in the simplest layman’s terms:

Reception is the physiological act of sensing stimuli.
Perception is how we create meaningful patterns from that stimuli—based on prior experience.

So?

Collectively, as a species, we’ve evolved to perceive certain sounds as threats. More recently, we’ve evolved to perceive red numbers as negative balances.

But that second example—red numbers—points to cultural evolution. While red numbers on my bank statement create anxiety for me, it’s easy to imagine another group that uses red to signal a positive balance or an increase. From within their perception-boxes, the emotional response to red is completely different.

The key takeaway?
Your perception-box is made of filters you’ve constructed, based on prior experience.

What you believe to be true is only true to you.
The frequency range you receive is shaped by emotions you developed from past experiences with similar stimuli.

Who adjusts the knobs to receive a clearer signal?
You do.
But what makes a signal clearer? Always: a pattern you’re familiar with.

Think of a radio. If you dial into a station with a language you don’t recognize, you’ll fiddle with the knobs. Your brain can’t process it—it doesn’t match your internal pattern library. But just to the right of that station, you find another in your own language. Now you can process the signal. You recognize the patterns. You understand.

This is how perception varies from person to person.
We dial in favor of patterns that feel familiar.

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So what can we do with this knowledge?

It might be difficult to change our own perceptions, but it helps to realize that everyone else is perceiving the world—everything “out there”—through their own perception-box, based entirely on their past experiences.

Instead of offering them our filters, or trying to see through theirs, we could make the world a better place simply by accepting the diversity of perception-boxes.

Each person is doing their best to process what they’re receiving, based on what they’ve experienced up to now.

“One person regards one day above another: another regards every day alike. Let every person be fully persuaded in their own mind.”
~ Romans 14:5 MCV

What does this mean?

It means that whatever you think about the world—it's in your own mind.
It means you are fully persuaded that your model of the world is accurate.
And I get to choose whether I’ll allow you to see it that way.

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This brings me to a close.

All of the world’s troubles arise from our refusal to allow for diverse perceptions.

We could instantly improve the world by accepting—not rejecting—our differences.

There is a tremendous difference between accepting your perceived diversities and accepting diverse perceptions.

How we pronounce tomato should never be a deciding factor in whether or not to call the whole thing off.