Today we ask you to meditate on the idea that other people perceive reality in a very different way.

Often people get very frustrated with other people because they believe that everyone perceives reality in roughly the same way.  Therefore, when another person holds a different point of view, you get angry.  How could that person be so blind, or foolish, or pig-headed?  You may even believe that the other person is downright evil.

In truth, perception varies widely from person to person.  You all see and hear and taste and touch and smell, it is so.  But the perceptual field by which you process these sensory inputs varies widely.

One man may love the taste of raw fish.  Another may find it disgusting.  One man may be transfixed by the art of Picasso.  Another may find that art meaningless.  This should indicate how profoundly perception varies.

Perception varies because modes of thinking vary.  It is possible to alter one’s perception, but only by consciously altering one’s thought processes.

The vast majority of humans do not understand that perception is highly variable and rooted in thought process. They believe their way of perceiving is the only way.

One of the sanest things a human can do is to recognize the variability of perception, and cease to wish to impose his particular mode of perception on other humans who perceive differently.

If you love sushi and Picasso, accept that it is okay for someone else to hate sushi and Picasso.  There is nothing wrong with that person.  He just cannot perceive what you perceive.

If you consider yourself a tolerant person, then practice your tolerance on people who perceive differently than you do.  Do not attempt to force your perception on other people.  Then you will expand your own perception.