Mariella Gattini

One thing is reality itself, and the other, very different, is the perception of it. One is what’s really happening, the other; how people experience it. Reality is a fact, perception of reality is a viewpoint clouded by emotion.

The first to make the distinction was Socrates, the Greek philosopher. While those around him, Sophists, thought that reality varied because it depended on how it was perceived, Socrates insisted in that reality had value in itself, and that it was independent from individual perspectives.

For example, it’s raining. Some people would think that it’s a good thing because water is essential to life. Others would argue that it could be damaging because people could get wet, and later sick. Besides, too much rain can produce the overflow of rivers and, as a consequence, can lead to a disaster.

While all those points of view are valid, the reality is that it’s simply raining. That’s the reality in itself, and no matter how much we argue about it and try to make sense of it, the fact that it’s raining is completely independent from our perception of that fact.

Therefore, reality perception does not necessarily reflect reality itself. Each opinion is valuable, but does not get to own the truth, because opinions are only pieces of reality, and not the essence of it. Truth is pure reality, thus nobody can possibly own the truth. In other words, no one person (much less any means of communication) has the right to take over and proclaim what is the reality of things.

War correspondents, for instance, as extraordinarily commendable as their work is, cannot really grasp what is happening around them for two simple reasons: they are foreigners in the country at war, and, on the other hand, they are too close to the events in their surroundings. Wars are decided and planned far away from the points of conflict, not on the field, and in order to understand, to later clarify it to a different audience, you need to know the source of the aggression, and, over all, you need to have profound knowledge of the culture or cultures involved in the conflict. Therefore, war correspondents with limited knowledge of the language and of the culture in question, who travel to the point of conflict without knowing what is the real source of the violent events, taking with them their own cultural biases, can transmit back no more than lucubrations, in other words, their account of facts, their particular perception of reality, but never reality itself.

If we want to know the truth behind what people say, we have to develop our own critical thinking abilities, take different points of view into consideration, learn how to read in between lines, be aware of who is who in reality, and their interest in manipulating the perception of reality for their own advantage. Only then can we dare to express our own views, hopefully, consciously away from our biases, and focused on the commonwealth.

Every time I write I’m tempted to give my opinion about politicians, some of whom I really respect, and others I truly dislike. But I bite my tongue, thinking of Socrates, whom I discovered when I was eighteen years old, and whom I never forgot, thanks to Plato, who kept his conversations with him for posterity, conversations we can still share and even cherish. I bite my tongue, not because I’m afraid of what people might think of me, but because I’m conscious of the fact that I’m not the owner of the truth, and that my perspective, as valuable as it is, is only part of the entire picture, not the essence of it.

I only wish to add something of value to the general discourse, because I believe that reasonable statements can be of great help in times of political and economic turmoil, and can lead to a new and better understanding of reality itself.

My only hope is that more and more people enjoy the fact that it is raining, not only for its benefits, but because rain is real, it’s a fact. And only after recognizing a fact, independent from our evaluation of it, are we ready to put into motion our critical thinking, without being subjected by any kind of manipulation, whether external (others’ own interests) or internal (our own biases).

Socrates was real too, and he thought about all these things thousands of years ago, for our own benefit. And recognizing his value can only enhance our own value as thinkers. He still is in my memory, because what we learn is not what we can retain to score high on a test, it is what remains in us after years and years of pedestrian interaction with the reality at hand.