Reality and Perception Essay

Context Study – Reality and Perception
Our reality is not just what we see in front of us. It is shaped by our past experiences, our beliefs, our society, and the people we encounter.

What is reality? Reality is the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them. No one can see the true reality; we all perceive it differently because of our past experiences, beliefs, people we encounter and how society shows it to us.

Our past experiences and beliefs dramatically shape the way we see things. They make us subconsciously predict how every situation will turn out. We see each of these situations differently. For example: If a prisoner and a wealthy man were abandoned in the desert, they will perceive the situation very differently. For the prisoner, it will mean freedom but for the wealthy man it will mean hardship. These perceptions of the reality before us effect how we react to the situation.
We are greatly influenced by our beliefs, whether they’re religious or an opinion they shape our perceived reality. As Shakespeare said, “there’s nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”. To a certain extent, the way in which we perceive the world is entirely up to us. However, there are times when what we perceive is out of our control. Our perception of reality is dependent on how we are influenced, our beliefs and how we are taught to perceive the things we are surrounded by.

Society and the people around us shape our reality more than we think. Society shows us what our reality is supposed to be though media. They show us these ‘perfect’ people with ‘perfect’ lives and the people around us tell us that we need to either strive to be one of those people or fit their personal description of perfection.
Do people even think anymore or do we just take the thoughts from others and present them as our own? Instead of encouraging debate on topics we choose to sit with people who think exactly like us. We’re afraid of being rejected by others for thinking differently. A common perception of realty is that we must be the same as everyone else to be accepted.
Television has influenced how we see things as well with reality TV shows such as ‘X Factor’, Master Chef or The Block. These shows impact what we think is cool or ‘popular’ and instead of having our own taste we copy what we are shown. Again, we feel we must like the same things as everyone else to fit in although that is not the true reality.

Reality and perception are an immense part of our lives, they influence everything we do and every thought we have. Our perception is altered by our past experiences, our beliefs, society and the people we encounter. No one’s reality is the same and no reality is perfect. We need to manage how we perceive our reality so our mental health stays proficient.