dare we trust our own perception?

Ready for an early appointment, several people sit awaiting their turn in the dentist's chair. Most are neighbors, evidently, discussing a number of different events and local gossip. Evidently, one of the men recently noticed another neighbor with a new dog, a doberman pincher. The man described in anxious and flurried details of how no human should ever befriend or own a doberman. He deeply believed all dobermans were deranged, unstable and 'unworthy' of being loved as a pet or for any human interaction.

I left the office after the appointment, distressed in those comments. I could not fathom judging one dog, let alone an entire sub-species of dog, as unstable or unworthy of being loved, as a pet or not.

Several days pass and the first true warmth allows the first drive of the season with the windows down and the top open. While stopped at a light, I notice the leaves of the trees beginning to mature from the spring buds washed anew by the April rains, the misty air attracting my attentions to the sounds of the chirping fledglings in the nests and recall fond memories of young rabbits and birds in the wild from my youth. We had 'barn cats' then - raised free in the remote suburbs on a small farm plot, where they were allowed to form their own packs, form their own dominance order, hunt, reproduce, and play as they chose. One even adopted a small beagle as her own non-feline companion-- as she had turned too wild to feel comfortable by the other cats that enjoyed seeking our 'human scent' attentions (or rather, 'scenting us' as 'their' humans). I remembered also, how the female cats with young would proudly take the kittens on their first hunt, within 2 months of age. I'd watch them playfully bound through the tall grass and walk with tails swaggering high on their first successful hunt --- while attempting to find a sunny spot in which they might sit a moment to cleanse the blood from their fur.

As the light changes and I focus on present reality again, the landscapers near the roadside are trimming the trees and carefully planting the 'male' flowering bushes and trees in perfectly plotted dimensions across the suburbia we have so become accustomed to accept as our 'natural surroundings'. There is dusty grass shavings blowing in the air from the weed whackers and lawn mowers, the smell of mulch and fertilizers and overwhelming noise from the various lawn care motors. My eyes begin to itch a moment, until I have pulled away with the traffic ahead of me.

As these moments rummage through my consciousness, suddenly the scenery around me changes shape. I consider a multitude of theories determined in human history as 'significant discoveries', whether of art, music, science, philosophy or any number of 'classifications'. Then the angst that so lingered in my childhood mind returns---- perhaps it was my childish notion then, but the recurring thought strikes me over and over. In the context of human language, we have been experiencing and observing life in the quest to find meaning. Yet-- in our seemingly advanced times of mankind, we have become too accustomed to the notion of 'assigning meaning'. The first ones to observe or discover during their life experience, receives accolade and credit, then is rewarded with 'assigning' the name by which we shall all 'know' that discovery. If the 'idea' or device should be found a useful power, the inventors and discoverers are bowed to like the Pharaohs of Egypt, as the seats of conquest determine political usefulness and honor of the 'one'. The greater the usefulness or omnipotence, the more celebrated the honor. And usually, by the answer from, in the name of, and in the hope of becoming, "God" (or all-powerful and all-knowing.)

Mary Shelley once wrote that man's true desire was to emulate our creator and become as great and omniscient creator as God. She challenged our thoughts on morality and ethics at the dawn of modern industrialization in Europe. Things we thought improbable became new reality and things impossible became probable. She came along and challenged our perception of ourselves at a moment of sudden self-discovery and realization of modern mechanics by humans. We call her the 'founder of science fiction'.

We have been wrong many times in history, from the concentric (egocentric) view as earth at the center of the universe to believing the sun was a chariot in the sky. But we changed our perceptions along the way, and discovered new truths, and the reality as we know it to be today.

Or is it?

As I reminisce on the conversation of the man that labeled all dobermans as unworthy--- I cannot help but wonder how egocentric our judgement and assumptions have become. I wonder about how much we have accepted as truths about nature--- only to realize we've driven nature out of balance with those assumptions. We think creatures fear or despise us, yet refuse to understand how much we have taken away from their hunting grounds and their lairs. We change our landscape to suit our vision, without acknowledging we might just be pieces of the greater landscape ourselves---- not 'worthy' of judging what the landscape should be. And we plant only the flowering bushes while medicating ourselves to avoid suffering from the allergy reactions to the extreme pollen the trees produce to find it's female blossoms.

I wonder then, perhaps our perceptions have been tainted by our own desire for 'omniscience' as challenged by Mary Shelley. Perhaps we are wrongfully creating our own deformed offspring and future by not realizing the spirit that sleeps within. Perhaps, it is time for a new challenge to our perception..... Perhaps we need to realize the miracle of being human is not achieving our desires of omnipotence and omniscience--- but rather the ability to change, adapt and integrate our perception into a universal and harmonious vision---- if we so choose??