Does perspective change perception?

Let's say you believe in something a lot, and not in something else. Wouldn't that something you believe in manifest to you compared to something you don't believe in?
Does a different perspective change how you view and experience the world compared to other people?
Let's say few examples:
Is that why people who are not religious do not have any bad experiences with ouija boards or demons?
Is that why some people are possessed by evil spirits because they believe and fear them while the non-religous person is not affected because he/she does not believe in them?
Those people who constantly believe in aliens, manifest more alien and UFO things around them?
Am I making any sense here or am I way off base here?
Thanks.

[edit on 8-10-2009 by sphinx551]

reply to post by sphinx551

Does perspective change perception?

Personally, I'm not totally convinced that there's anything other than perception.

Is that why people who are not religious do not have
any bad experiences with ouija boards or demons?

Well...that's the question, yes. But are they not having these experiences because they don't believe they're possible, and therefore don't "manifest" these experiences? Or are they having the exact same experiences, but interpreting it differently? Or is experience and perception the only fundamental thing that exists, and any question of what "really" happened cannot be asked, because there's no "really happened" apart from the perception?

And really...are these various interpretations actually different in any meaningful way?

Again, I'm not certain. About any of this.

Does a different perspective change how you view and
experience the world compared to other people?

In my mind, yes...this is clearly true. But what are the mechanics behind the process?

[edit on 8-10-2009 by LordBucket]

Originally posted by LordBucket
Again, I'm not certain. About any of this.

Me either.

reply to post by sphinx551

Me either.

Wow. Two people on ATS agreeing that they don't know about something. This has to be a first.

Double bind lol

Does perspective change perception?

well may I ask is the sun Hot?

Of course it is from a humans point of view, but from a hotter star maybe its cold....


There is no differance at all, Perspective IS perception full stop.

Elf

One needs perception to have perspective.
One can have perception without perspective.
A percept is the philosophical outlook one has.
Otherwise when one speaks of perception one is referring to sensory input.
And when one speaks of one's perspective one is referring to one's percept.
Therein lies the difference.
So, to "re-ask" your question for you, (humbly) I say, "Does my percept change my perception?"
And simply, "Yes. It does."
But if you mean, "Am I tricking myself?"
Then, "Yes. You are."
But so is everyone else.
I'm not here to say that people who believe they have been abducted by aliens haven't been, I believe that they can believe they have and that is enough. (Both enough for their experience to be "real" and enough for me to believe in their story, for I understand the reality of the percept, which I call Paradigm.)
So the question then becomes, "What am I going to "allow" myself to accept as reality?" This I call Assignee's Prerogative. (You are entitled to believe what you feel you must.)
The Authentic Self is achieved with the examination of Paradigms within yourself. (about this I can go on and on...)
If you "allow" a "bad" perpespective to influence a perception of say, a mumble out of someone's mouth, it could get you a punch in the nose by you pursuing the matter further. If, however, you did "nothing" there would be no effect.
And so we come to existentialsim, with it's root word, "exist."
But, alas, I am off to dinner, for I perceive that it smellls delicious...
Thanks for letting me blather...

Originally posted by LordBucket
Wow. Two people on ATS agreeing that they don't know about something. This has to be a first.

What is so strange about that?

Quantum theory states that matter is changed at a quantum level when it is observed or perceived.

If we couple Quantum theory with Buddhist viewpoints, we can see that there really IS nothing beyond experience or observation. Of course...the theory and philosophy are subjective like everything else. So who knows

reply to post by sphinx551

Two people on ATS agreeing that they don't know about something.

What is so strange about that?

...well, my perception is that it is far more common when someone asks a question here on ATS, for them to be swarmed by a dozen different people all firmly insisting that their answer is the correct one. Usually to be followed by those same people repeating their original statements for several pages with little or no attempt even to understand the other perspectives offered.

"I don't know" isn't something I often see here.

For example...I'll offer you this thread. Read the first post, watch the video, and then read the various responses in the thread.

To me, it appears that many posters are not responding to the video. Nor to its content. Nor even to the statements made in the original post. They appear to be responding to what they expected the post and the video to say. And even when it was pointed out that the claims in the post did not match the video, people continued right on responding to their own perceptions, oblivious to the lack of agreement between them.

But then...I suppose it's difficult to really know the perceptions of another without being them. Which ties in to the discussion here. People apparently had a perception of what they expected the thread and the video to be about, so consequently they perceived it in that manner, and continued to do so even when it was pointed out that there was an inconsistency in that perception. Which I suppose was probably perceived by them as yet another person mindlessly repeating themselves, even though that was not the intent.


[edit on 8-10-2009 by LordBucket]

reply to post by Mr. Toodles

Quantum theory states that matter is changed at a
quantum level when it is observed or perceived.

Maybe it does...but personally I have only circumstantial evidence to indicate that this "matter" stuff you're talking about has any validity apart from my own perceptions.

If we couple Quantum theory with Buddhist viewpoints, we can
see that there really IS nothing beyond experience or observation.

Exactly. But, nevertheless, there is some of that circumstantial evidence to suggest there's validity to the material world. Personally, I suspect that the physical world is not fundamental, but that my own consciousness is not the only observer here...and that the perceptions of others is influencing my own perceptions in a manner that causes it to resemble an "objective" physical world.

I kind of just want to live in a world of my own manufacture, and maybe invite others to participate if they so choose. If there is validity to this idea that perception, perspective and "reality" are all fundamentally intermingled, then it doesn't seem unreasonable to suspect that we could deliberately adjust them to match our desires.

But so far my own efforts to do so have not quite matched my intent.

reply to post by MischeviousElf


I agree with Mischevious Elf.

Like Robert Anton Wilson said, the "prover" proves what the "thinker" thinks; it's an automatic process. If you suddenly believe something, the damage is already done. To realize you really know nothing is best. And just go from there.

I believe perspective changes perception, depending on where you live ,your cultural backround, religion, age, sex, whether you are ignorant completely to something or know practicully everything there is to know. How you look at the the world and from where would affect how you see things. If you are a child or a very old person. Everyone probably looked at things differently or a little closed minded before the internet or TV. How you see things can affect how your mind sees things. In art class we would have to draw builings an intersection from above or ground level with 3 dimensional shapes. Or consider 5 or 6 circles now consider them spheres in front of each other in a downward staircase, the picture went from 2 dimensional to 3 . Maybe with new advancements and more knowledge available at are fingertips we are evolving or changing getting smarter. Think or someones world 100 years ago and what there perspective or perception was?

Originally posted by Mr. Toodles
Quantum theory states that matter is changed at a quantum level when it is observed or perceived.

That pretty much/partially explains it I guess.

Germans called this triumph of the will, during the nazi days.

Still the same, but today government has most of you sex mad, so you cannot focus on anything.

of course it does - a simple example is where you sit in a theater - wherever you sit the film and how you percieve it will vary dramatically depending ig youare in the first row, last row , by the speakers or nest to someone talking or eating loudly. Just a simple but good example!

Originally posted by P. O. W.
Think or someones world 100 years ago and what there perspective or perception was?

And I couldn't even imagine what the perspective and perception would be like in 100 years.