Is Everything Really Subjective
I really used to think people could be objective, there was some merit in asking someone else for their objective view of a situation or how it looked to them, but I see now that’s simply a misunderstanding on my part. Everyone’s experience is created subjectively.
The thing is, it’s really easy to see, if 4 people attend a concert, they have 4 different stories to tell, 4 different experiences, 4 different sets of feelings, 4 different sets of memories all from the same concert. When if you look at the bigger picture, there are actually 65,000 different sets of memories, feelings and experiences from that concert.
We create our experience of the event through thought in the moment, including our sensory experience of the body. Read that again, but slow down a little, and consider the implications of it, we experience through thoughts in the moment, including our sensory experience of the body. Now take a moment to reflect on that, I don’t mean with the intellect, not to argue or disagree, but to try it on for size, see if it fits.
The Science Behind Subjectivity
You possibly know about the viral image of a dress that some claimed was blue and black, while others said that it was gold and white. Although people who saw the dress in person confirmed that it was black and blue, 4 out of 5 people who saw the picture in a shadow said it was white and gold..
The image led to a number of studies on the individual differences in color perception, and how it’s subjective based on a person’s previous experience. Of course, claiming that a dress is gold and white is worlds apart from the actual colour, but you’d be surprised to know how often people mistake red for orange or remember shades of green as blue.
While some researchers say that physical objects are a certain colour, many researchers argue that colour is subjective. So what you may see as red could be orange or even peach-coloured to someone else. So it’s all about what you see and what you think you’re seeing.
This is also happening everywhere all the time, and that is the point of this article, there is nothing you experience that is not perception, nothing. Yes, you read that right, you experience your own mind, not the outside world. This brings a whole new angle to suffering, mental health, and coaching.
What If We Quantify Things?
A common counter-argument that people make against subjectivity is the notion of quantifying things. Let’s say you came up with a database to quantify and analyse football players’ performance. Even if you do that, the database will reflect your own biases and preferences. You’d select the advanced analytics to add or remove from the calculations. Similarly, you’d also decide the importance that each variable holds in your analyses.
After all, it’s possible to take advantage of any system of rules. You can even rely on artificial intelligence to grade athletic performance, but players will soon determine what the algorithm prioritises. This happening everywhere, all the time we are just so conditioned we don’t see it.
We live in a world where people have a hard time acknowledging their faults and admitting their weaknesses, so it always pays off the favour of information that aligns with our beliefs. Meanwhile, we discard any data that shows other explanations. When we get an output that doesn’t align with expectations, it’s easy to manipulate for our convenience. So even if we quantify things, formulae are vulnerable to manipulation. This article cannot convince you, you have to see this for yourself. But just a small glimpse of the infinite potential will open your life up completely.
Is there a benefit to knowing it’s subjective?
People often say, yeah it’s all subjective, so what? and it makes sense that unless you see it, it is of little value. Syd Banks talks about SEEING as different to see, how I talk about this is that one is with the intellect and the other is a deeper sense of KNOWING, like, oh shit! It really does work that way – this one is life changing the first one is good for debate or argument about the use or value of it in the pub. This is the fundamental foundation of transformative life coaching.
It’s normal because most of humanity is conditioned throughout their life to believe that life is outside in experience, you get more property and prestige, wealth and status and you then have a better life. Your intellect develops over time and becomes the go-to source of information for if something is correct, thoughts look so real they become beliefs and we talk about them as if they are facts, never really considering the peace of mind and happiness that is available in understanding subjective experience.
How do I see beyond what I already know?
It’s a great question to ask, now we’re motoring. Once you open up to the fact that we don’t https://www.nyu.edu/about/news-publications/news/2017/april/why-did-we-see-_the-dress-differently–the-answer-lies-in-the-sh.htmlknow, what we don’t know then anything is possible, and again it’s one of those sentences that requires a double take and a slow down to consider if it’s true, if there is something to investigate. It’s a huge step to go from thinking we know how it all works, to considering something else is possible, and it can be life changing.
Once you start to investigate how experience is created, i.e. look within, is there really any experience without thought? Is everything I think I see coloured by my past conditioning? Do I experience all my senses through thought? Only then will the walls start to tumble.
What happens after the realisation that nothing exists?
It could be a short, or a long (forever) journey before the realisation of the ultimate truth, nothing really exists outside of our own mind. It’s quite paradoxical because there is form and matter in the world, but without thought and consciousness, there is nothing. Circumstances are all neutral, they have no meaning, yet in the human experience, we give them meaning.
People often ask, does this mean I will sit back and do nothing once I see it, well it’s an interesting point, yes and no, but here is my experience.
- Problems lessen – because we realise that they not really problems
- Mental health improves – because we are not revving our mind up with overthinking
- Creativity flourishes – because that is who we are, creative beings
- Relationships blossom – because we are not making shit up about other people
- Our impact on the world increases – because we realise there is no such thing as low self-worth, lack of confidence or the inability to do anything we want to do.
- Opportunity is endless – because we are not looking for it in a certain shape and size
- We handle life so much better – because we just understand how it works
Now I am not sure about anyone else, but to me, and I would suspect to most people that would be life changing.
FAQs
If everything is subjective, should I do nothing?
As human, it’s impossible to not do anything, as we’re constantly leaving an impression on the world. But once you realise that everything is subjective, you may start to worry less about made-up problems, stop misinterpreting things in your relationships, and you’ll start to see many more opportunities.
What about objective facts based on analysis?
Even if you come up with a formula to quantify certain aspects of your experience, they will be based on an arbitrary measure. For instance, what we call ‘too hot’ is based on how far it strays from body temperature. Therefore, it’s easy, even for quantifying systems, to be riddled with aspects of personal experience. As Rupert Spira said in the book, The Nature of Consciousness, even science is flawed, as it does not start with the exploration of consciousness.
Can experience be objective?
No, experience can’t be objective because that would mean quantifying things like pain, happiness, and other emotions that are part of the human experience. If you’ve never so much as sprained your ankle, falling off some stairs could qualify as 9 out of 10 on the pain scale. But if you’ve given birth or been in a car accident, you might rate it much lower.
Why should I improve myself if everything is subjective?
If anything, the subjectivity of metrics that determine achievement or success should motivate you even further. When you don’t have to limit yourself to or match up to a certain standard, there are various opportunities that you can take to ‘improve’ yourself, but knowing there are no imaginary standards is one when you stop questioning why you are not at ‘XYZ’ then you will naturally get better at whatever it is.
How do I broaden my perception?
It’s difficult to acknowledge things outside your immediate experience, but you can start by asking yourself if you’re interpreting an event based on prior experiences, often this is not always obvious, but with a willing mind to consider, then that is the start. Once you start to build such self-awareness, you move past looking at things from a single perspective, everything opens up.
Certified Transformative Coach with 25 years of experience helping people live a better life.
