Week 7- Marisa Gee

Throughout Robert Lanza’s article, “A New Theory of the Universe,” I kept thinking about what someone told me several years ago, that reality is a matter of perception. While that saying seems cliché and likely often over used in several contexts, I believe Lanza uses science, in particular biology, to in a way explain that saying. Humans have always sought to explain the unknown whether through religion, mythology or science at the end of the day each explanation is truly just a story, usually for the purpose of pursuing completeness as Lanza points out.

            The Foreigner tarot card I think most relates to Lanza’s article in particular about perception and representation. I think that The Foreigner is often misrepresented, but little is talked about considering how this constant misrepresentation influences how the individual views themself. Essentially the individual may view themself in a particular way that differs from how others view them; which point of view is perception and which point of view is reality? 

            The tarot card itself urges the reader to examine your own “self- understanding, and how people may see you as something other than who you are.” I think that this follows Lanza’s reasoning in a less biological way. Essentially our identifies and how we think of ourselves is a product of how we view ourselves and how others view us and that shapes our perception which in turn dictates the reality that we live in. Lanza’s example illustrating the interaction between human and the bug highlight the differing realities or points of view. While each living organism has a set of similar biochemical mechanisms that keep them alive and able to maneuver in the living world, their perceptions differ. In this context, I wonder if there is truly one reality or if multiple realities exist like what Lanza argues, what do you think? Are we all operating based on our own realities? Can two people ever inhabit the same reality? These questions (and Lanza’s article) also make me wonder about truth and fact and what gives something more credibility over another. 

 

References

The Foreigner (Tarot Card)

Robert Lanza. “The American Scholar- A New Theory of the Universe.”

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https://www.slideshare.net/FCBotha/reflections-on-perspective-perceptions