We pick up literally thousands of stimuli everyday. A chance word, one little thing can really impact us deeply without us being directly aware of it. This is subliminal perception, and it's mostly used by advertisers to plant a need in our mind for their product which we can completely do without and would never have even dreamed of getting till the advertisers stepped in with their manipulative tactics.
Subliminal perception can be pretty strong, as illustrated by this example in my textbook: During a movie, the words 'Drink coke' were flashed on the screen for a time span of less than one-sixteenth of a second. That time span, as people might know, is too little for our eyes to register it, but apparently the subconscious brain, being dashed observant, registered the message as it was flashed on screen. Results showed that the number of people who bought coke or popcorn during that movie did, in fact, go up.
Unfortunately, my textbook also dashed the excitement at the implications of this message by saying that the results have yet to be proved conclusively and that subliminal perception, though important, need not necessarily work on everyone or produce a substantial change.
Yet, the effects of it can be seen everyday. We hardly remember the scenes we see everyday as we go to work, college or school, or more accurately, we see them without noticing them in any way, yet those details would be registered somewhere in our brain. Many times, we seem to know so many things without remembering exactly where we've read them. It's a natural function of brain, designed to help us survive in the environment.
I've noticed that when I write, my writing style is often very strongly influenced by the recent author I've read. That happens when I speak as well. When I analyse my writing, I can see where the influence of P.G. Wodehouse, or L.M. Montgomery, or someone else I've just happened to read steps in. Some writers have distinctive writing styles, some have wonderfully strong stories, some introduce extremely memorable characters, some new ideas or thoughts: most good writers have a combination of these. Each book is different, and each author. Some books can affect you powerfully-they can almost literally change your life; some books you would have read a million times until you have a piece that looks like something the cat brought in: yet you wouldn't give the copy away for a new one because it holds so many memories- that's why I hope Kindle will never catch on because you buy a book not so much for the story, as for the whole experience of reading and re-reading it and fingering it, and who can forget that wonderful old book smell?
I've almost given up naming my posts because I seem to always move away from the topic at hand, and then I've to label it 'random' again. But getting back to the topic I started with- it's obvious we're influenced by our environment to a great degree. But it's also true that our environment is what we think of it-so our world and all the people and every single perception we have is not the truth, but only our interpretation of everything. So if we can change our interpretation, then we change our world completely. Notice, 'the' world at large will probably be the same, but 'our' world, which is almost the same, but not quite, can be changed. And in real terms, it's almost like the whole world has been changed anyway.
Subliminal perception exists, of course, but it doesn't mean that we are influenced against our will by it, though the coke example is rather scary when you come to think of it. Brain-washing is a very real possibility, but the only way to counter it is to keep your mind open always to new ideas. It doesn't mean accepting everything you're told, but to trust your instinct on what's right and what's not.
I wrote this quote once and stuck it on my cupboard wall, and I've found it a help when I'm confused: 'If anything makes you feel bad, it's the wrong thing to do. Trust your instinct'
As a corollary: 'If anything makes you feel good, really absolutely good(and you'll know when this happens), it's the right thing to do'
If you have the least doubt about something, it's better not to do it, or at least, change it or your attitude till it feels right. Doing something while thinking it's wrong is probaby the worst thing you can ever do.
All right, the budding humanitarian signs off!
