Perception is a sensation of the mind that
normally comes from fundamentally either of the two sources. These are from the
external physical world or inner self. Irrespective of the source, emotion is
an aspect that is invariably attached to perception. This is attached on one hand to the outcome of an
event or observation that is stimulated by one of the above-stated sources. And
on the other hand, it is attached to a sense organ from where the stimulus
originates. Hence, a sense organ is attached to the mind which generates the
perception. This human mental faculty of perception is a very subjective parameter as such, but it acts as a
major factor that governs the mood or mental state of that person. The external
manifestation of the perception could be either a sensation of pleasure and
happiness or that of pain and sorrow. For a similar event, different persons
would have a different degree of perception based on the person’s assessment
and the relation of that event as to how and to what extent it affects him. The
person reacts to that external or internal event that directly affects him
physically or mentally.
Human perception of the external world does not
directly affect him physically. He observes nature to study it for himself for finding his relationship with
nature. But human perception based on his observation of the physical world is
erroneous. Simple daily life experience will prove this fact. Everybody knows
that science has objectively proved that earth is round (bulged at the equator
and slightly flattened at the poles ), but in daily life observation, we human
beings always perceive it as flat surface since physically what we see with our naked
eyes, it is flat. The matter does not end here. The erroneous human perception
of the external world has been irrevocably proved by the advent of modern
science from the beginning of the 20th century. The pathbreaking of
all the scientific discoveries have been Einstein’s Relativity Theory and the Quantum
Theory put forth in the pioneering works by Albert Einstein, Neils Bohr, Werner
Heisenberg and Erwin Schrodinger in particular. In these discoveries, there has
been a paradigm-shifting concept by moving from Newtonian classical mechanistic physical
world view to quantum mechanical view. This has revolutionized modern science
and evolved a new subject called quantum mechanics. Also what we perceive of the external world
is at most a tiny sliver of the reality of nature. We know the visible spectrum is
only a small band of the entire spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. Well,
returning to the subject of human perception we now
shift our focus to another aspect of mental faculty that is associated with
perception and that is belief. Perception is the precursor to belief. As stated
above perception first develops from some external or internal source and this culminates
into belief. But "Belief should be based on reason and supported by
argument " this was said by one of the greatest philosophers of the 20th
century Bertrand Russell. And the above stated pathbreaking shift to modern
physics that has taken place has happened, is rigorously verified in the way
Russell has stated. In every sphere of human activity belief is an aspect that
plays a major role that precedes a decision that the person takes. Belief,
whether it is positive or negative, comes from the perception that a person
develops with a particular end-objective in mind. However, in the present
context, we would refer only positive beliefs because it is only such beliefs
that trigger a healthy emotion which is necessary for a happy and healthy life.
Outside the domain of science, belief moulds the values of a person that he
maintains. And these
help him to hold on to his moorings or the mental foundation i.e. the psyche, in
the event of an adverse external circumstance. It is in such a situation that
the strength in his belief helps him to sustain physically and mentally. And
for such a person this meaningful belief which he beholds reflects the
strength of his character. But there is also another side of belief which is
not based on reason and
supported by argument as advocated by Bertrand Russell and that is religion.
This aspect of human activity is based on faith that a person develops following
the convention and tradition of his community. And lastly, there is also another
facet of belief which a rational person develops about his self which is based
on self-assessment of his capabilities and limitations. Thus we see that there
is no major aspect of human activity or assessment whether it is science or
religion or tradition or human potential, where a human being doesn’t take recourse to belief.
