As David Hume stated: “For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call
myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or
cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch
myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe anything but the
perception. When my perceptions are remov'd for any time, as by sound sleep; so
long am I insensible of myself, and may truly be said not to exist.” A person’s perception of self is always effected by
external or internal experiences which meets with reality experiences . Hence, how
would the perception of self conflict with reality obstacles and expectations,
if one’s self is not influenced through external experiences?
Our perception
of self is evidently influenced and built from external experiences and awareness.
However, if our own self perception and realities’ perception requirements did
not have any common grounds and creates conflicts, it would be difficult for us
to proceed on with daily challenges and tasks throughout our lives, as we
proceed on. In today’s society, various
reality expectations are required to be met, especially in developed countries,
in order to have stable and “secured” lifestyle, such as job, house, car, etc. If one’s perception is different and not influenced
by society, people, or realistic experiences, they will surely have conflicts
with the lifestyle requirements and needs. When referring to the article of Plato's Allegory of the Cave,
the prisoners in the cave had no real life experiences and their character and
self did not relate the “outside” world. If those prisoners had to survive in
the real world, their perception on life would not meet the requirements in
order for them to survive as their view on life would be different from what is
expected. Thus they have to be externally taught and influenced the perception of
the “outside” world, in order to proceed onward. Overall, if there is a big perception
between self and realistic situations – conflicts would arise regarding
different situations, such as survival, “fitting in”, communicating, etc.
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