Influential Perception

We are influenced daily by what is seen and heard, especially in terms of what we see produced and enhanced by the media. I believe that us as humans, in regard to a void in each of us, look for something to believe in. We look for things that validate the way that we personally feel. We even are subject to the things that we don’t presently, but want to believe in, and change our lives to replicate our vision. By this point, there is not a whole lot of originality left, which is interesting when we truly dive into how we perceive life as individuals. Shapes and colors are all what we collectively know them as. As a human race, we all wear clothes of some sort. We all have a language in order to communicate with one another. We all eat food and drink water. But when it gets down to the individual, and the way that person feels based off of things like social upbringing or role models, our minds are formed to see life from a certain perspective.

When it comes to media, we are highly influenced by a narrow perspective of either right or wrong, based on how we want to feel about a certain situation. There’s a media channel for the “right” answer, and a media for the “wrong” answer. The majority of the time we are hearing from people that we are “supposed” to trust based off of their research and/or insight, yet, it’s rare that we ever hear directly from the individual or the people involved to understand facts, and even when we do, they are on screen, so a front is being displayed while what goes on behind the scenes in the personal life of the individual goes unseen. I believe that more often than not, we are not getting the real story, but we draw conclusions to whats real and whats false based off the story that has been painted and articulately crafted in order to increase viewers, increase following or influence, and build a body of supporters.

All of this being said, we are gravely mistaking fiction for reality daily. We believe what we want to believe, and there’s always a place that we can find people that support our beliefs, and this brings a certain validation for us. In the grand scheme of all things in existence — try to simply look at how expansive and infinite the universe is — our minds cannot possibly comprehend how massively intricate and perfect everything has been laid out. We live a span of life on average 70 or 80 years while the rest of the universe goes on for millions of years. Why is life so short? Are we just passing through? Are we on some sort of pitstop here? Is this place called earth even a real thing, or a cognitive construct? Personally, I feel that we are all here for a specific purpose and we live a life long enough in order to fulfill why it is that we are here. In a world of so many beliefs, history, social constructs, cultural diversity — if someone erased my entire memory — what would I believe in?