RedGage

        Existence Through Perspective
     Reality is an interesting concept; each
individual mind has a separate reality, but few
realize that they are different. Everyone has his or
her own perspective on the world and what is
happening to them. As a student artist, more
specifically, a photographer; I take notice of things
that I think are a good subject for a photo. Other
people, even other photographers, wouldn’t
necessarily notice these subjects the way I did. For
example; if I were walking one day and saw a river, I
might take pictures of it, while others would want to
swim, fish, boat or even be afraid of it. Each person
sees the world through different eyes, and because of
this, they perceive it differently. We each have our
own ‘frame of reference.’

    Everything you do throughout your life and
everything that happens to you, has an affect on the
way you perceive things now. When you experience
something, you pull from the bank of knowledge
(created by past experiences and their consequences)
in your head to try to make sense of it. I am having
trouble writing this essay and perceive that as a
result of my “ADD.”At an early age, it was explained
to me that my inability to concentrate was a result
of a chemical defect in my brain. So for a while I
took medication and every time I had trouble
concentrating I would attribute it to ADD. One day,
someone told me that they thought that ADD and ADHD
were nothing but a characteristic of a person; and
that they were not caused by a chemical imbalance at
all. While this person truly believed what they were
saying and thought that they were correct; I could
not except this notion because I had a totally
different reality instilled in me.

    But memory is not the only thing that effects
your current reality; it is also effected by the
situation you are in. Depending on the situation,
different things (symbols, objects etc.) take on
different meanings. When Spanish explorers first came
to the Caribbean Islands, they found islanders with
massive amounts of gold. They began trading simple
things like pieces of glass and other “junk.” They
thought the islanders were foolish, handing over all
this gold; what were they thinking? To the islanders,
the gold was so abundant it was not valuable. The
explorers had a different perception of the
islanders. Language changes meanings in different
situations also. Each individual may have a different
meaning of a word, and may use it differently. To me,
college means studying, learning and developing;
while to others it may mean partying, meeting new
people and just passing.

    One concept that I have had trouble
understanding and explaining to others is that there
is not one universally correct perspective. That is,
no one persons perspective is “better” or “right”
amongst others. For example, I had a discussion with
my friend the other day about larping. Live action
role playing, or larping, is a recreation a bunch of
students participate in that involves them acting out
their favorite video-games. As I have come to
understand, about once a week the members of this
group that partake in this pastime will dress up and
become their favorite RPG game character, and then
have battles with other characters. The conversation
started off when I asked her what she thought of
larping. She told me that she thought it was a silly
waste of time. So I said “That is what I thought, but
I guess I’ve been thinking about it.” I told her that
I realized that it was not really that bad as long as
it made them happy. But she kept insisting that it
was a waste of time, and that they should find
something better-more productive to do. She was
saying that in the time it takes to remember all the
concepts there are to the game, they could be
bettering themselves mentally or in health. So I
paralleled it to sports (specifically football cause
that’s what she follows). Football involves a bunch
of characters who get together and act out a
competition; the only difference being that football
is so much more socially excepted. She became annoyed
that I used this as an example because to her,
football is an excepted part of life while larping is
not. To defend her argument, she explained to me that
anyone who has an altered perception of reality is
just lying to themselves and should get a grip on the
real world; she said that, “pointing to a deer and
saying ‘there’s a dragon’, is silly.” I thought about
this statement for a minute and said, “Them calling
that deer a dragon is no different than you calling
it a deer, or a target or some scary wild animal.
These are all different ways for one thing to be
perceived.” I would see that deer and say that it
would make a good photo; many people might agree. The
larpers perception of it as a dragon, though
fantastic and less widely excepted, is no less
accurate.

     Earl Babbie informs that reality is the
“quality of having an actual existence,” he described
something that is real as having a foundation that
governs it. But which foundation, God, science, luck
or superstition? Your mind creates that actual
existence and you decide, consciously or
subconsciously, how you perceive the world.  Joel
Charon believes that “truth about physical reality is
impossible in any absolute sense.” Instead of seeing
what really happens, or seeing the truth, we decide
what makes the most sense to us through our
perspective. So what makes the most sense to you? Is
this an essay, a paper, just some babbling, finished,
unfinished, millions of little fibers stained with
black ink, or is it Existence through Perspective?