a random thought

mfranzdorf

I was thinking about the mind, and how peoples perceptions can be so radically different from someone else's when I had this random thought. Do you suppose everything tastes the same to everybody? Like, I know what an apple tastes like to me, but what does it taste like to you? How would we ever figure this out? It is impossible, right? I feel like this concept has a possibility to be taken to extremes in regards to Buddhist conversation, but my thoughts aren't flowing to freely right now, I'm tired and need sleep! So, discuss, expound or ignore........I'm off to bed.

person

Dakini

It depends on what kind of apples you're used to. People who come from countries where apples aren't grown on corporate farms, where apples tend to be tart, think red and yellow Delicious apples are miserably bland. And how do you think you'd like whale or seal blubber? It's a delicacy to far Northern coastal peoples.

person

We can't really ever know someone else's subjective experience. I've heard this same kind of thought before put in the context of the colors we see. How do we know that what one person sees as blue isn't what another person would call green?

Dakini

We know about blue vs. green because it's been studied by anthropologists, MD's etc. Some cultures don't recognize the blue-green side of the spectrum at all, I've read. But if you mean on a day-to-day basis, we don't know how the people we interact with are perceiving color.

I've noticed it's so easy to have misunderstandings when you're working with someone, or friends with someone. Different people bring different assumptions to a situation.