People assume that they perceive reality as it is, that our senses accurately record the outside world. Yet the science suggests that, in important ways, people experience reality not as it is, but as they expect it to be.
Interpretation
Our perceptions of reality are influenced more by our expectations than by the actual world around us.
This quote highlights the notion that human perception is inherently subjective and shaped by personal expectations. Rather than experiencing reality in an objective manner, people interpret sensory information through the lens of their beliefs and anticipations, leading to a filtered and often skewed understanding of the world.
In practice
In a discussion about the nature of reality, one might use this quote to illustrate how our judgments can be biased.
The only way to maximize group creativity—to make the whole more than the sum of its parts—is to encourage a candid discussion of mistakes. In part, this is because the acceptance of error reduces cost. When you believe your flaws will be quickly corrected by the group, you're less worried about perfecting your contribution, which leads to a more candid conversation. We can only get it right when we talk about what we got wrong.
We need to be willing to risk embarrassment, ask silly questions, surround ourselves with people who don't know what we're talking about. We need to leave behind the safety of our expertise.
Knowledge can be a subtle curse. When we learn about the world, we also learn all the reasons why the world cannot be changed. We get used to our failures and imperfections. We become numb to the possibilities of something new
Other people are quite dreadful. The only possible society is oneself.
Like the practice of breath control, meditation on the forms of God, repetition of mantras, food restrictions, etc., are but aids for rendering the mind quiescent.
Thus we never see the true state of our condition till it is illustrated to us by its contraries, nor know how to value what we enjoy, but by the want of it.
He knows what it's like to strut and fret his hour upon the stage and then be heard no more.
The water hollows out the stone, not by force but drop by drop.
The imagination never forgets; it is a re-membering. It is not foundationless, but most reasonable, and it alone uses all the knowledge of the intellect.
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