Buffy the Vampire SlayerSo, what does it mean to "know" and to "perceive" and what exactly is the difference between the two?
To know something, one stores information, facts, about that thing in one's brain. Knowing is the general concept of being able to retain information about something. To perceive is to take information and translate it into something you can understand. There are different levels of knowledge which, in turn, bring about different perceptions of that knowledge.
Perception is different for everyone. Perception is based on prior knowledge of something, as well as our own unique ways of translating and interpreting information. Perception is also based on how well we know something. For example, you are likely to know your best friend differently than a random person walking down the street would. Knowing certain information shapes our perception of something. So, you will perceive your best friend very differently than that random stranger would because you know so much more about your best friend than that stranger does.
Knowledge and perception are very different. The same widespread knowledge can be, for lack of a better word, known by many different people. Everyone of these people perceives this piece of knowledge differently because they interpret this knowledge each in their own way based on personal experiences, prior knowledge, and unique way of thinking.
Knowing and perceiving go hand-in-hand. When we know something, we also perceive it. The way we think about something depends on our interpretation of this piece of information. For example, my mother and I are very familiar with an Andrew Wyeth painting entitled Master Bedroom as it has hung in my grandmother's house for many years and eventually our own home. It depicts a yellow Labrador sleeping on bed. My mother and I know this piece of art very well since we are very used to seeing it every day. Even though we both know it well, we perceive it differently. While I always saw a Weimaraner sleeping on the bed, my mom always saw a yellow Lab. I perceived the dog to be a different breed because I was always used to seeing my aunt's Weimaraner which looked somewhat similar to the dog in the painting. My mom knew it was a yellow Lab because she saw it for what it really was and had a different perception of the painting than I did even though we both knew the painting well.
Perception does not always rely on knowledge. We can perceive something we know absolutely nothing about. Our perception of that thing will be grow once we learn something about it. For example, my perception of high school as a child was very different than my current perception of high school. I imagined high school to be exactly how I saw it on television shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Dawson's Creek. I was sorely disappointed, and somewhat relieved, upon learning the true nature of my high school years. My pre-conceived perception of the ideal high school life was false and driven solely by what I saw in the media. Because I had no personal knowledge of what high school was actually like, I created my own perception of what I thought it would be like by pulling favorable elements out my favorite television shows. Now, as a senior, I have a much more accurate perception of what high school is actually like because I lived it firsthand.
I believe that perception and knowledge are ever-changing. As we grow older, experience different things, and learn more, our knowledge grows and our perception changes as well. For example, when you are a child you have a very specific vision (perception) of what life will be like when you become a teenager. When you finally reach teenagehood your perception of it is no doubt very different than your perception of being a teenager than you had when you were a child. This is because you learn about what it's actually like to be a teenager through first-hand experiences compared to the fantasy-driven pre-conceived perceptions you had when you were a child.
I believe that there are superior ways of knowing. You can know something superiorly to someone else based on how well you know that certain thing. How well you know something will give you a clearer and more accurate perception of that thing. We can all get to know something, or someone, better based on our attitudes and open-mindedness. Clearly you won't be able to get to know every as well as you can possibly can, but if you put the effort into something to try to understand it a little bit better, this will make your knowledge of that thing superior to that of the person who doesn't care enough to get to know that thing. Likewise, your perception of that thing will grow and become more accurate to what that thing really is the more you know.
Our perception of something may be far from that thing's actual nature. We must expand our knowledge and understanding of something in order to form more accurate perceptions of things. If more we tried to get to know one another better, our perceptions of eachother would be more accurate and we would be able to relate to eachother better. Even more, it is important to perceive ourselves as accurately as possible by getting to know ourselves as well as we possibly can, or at least trying to.
Learning to create more accurate perceptions through knowledge is important, even when the truth may be less desirable than our own preconceived perception of reality. Besides, who really needs vampire boyfriends, seemingly-endless passing times between classes, and a world where everyone looks like a model?
-Nick
