Recognition and Interpretation

Hello.
This is Aoyagi.

This week's column is about "perception" and "interpretation."

Just the other day, while cycling to work, I suddenly started thinking about this:

What if there was a food that looked like an apple but tasted like a watermelon?


Would it be "a watermelon that looks like an apple"?
Or "an apple that tastes like a watermelon"?


Both are correct, and it doesn't really matter, and what was I even thinking about so early in the morning while cycling anyway? (laughs)

But I thought this was a bit interesting, so I decided to write about it in this column.





If you just look at it, everyone would think it's an "apple," but if you close your eyes and eat it, you'd think it's a "watermelon."

In other words, perception is "receiving information as it comes in."

On the other hand, "deciding that this is such-and-such" is "interpretation."

I believe that a person's knowledge, experience, values, biases, and habits all intertwine to form their own unique interpretation.


This is the same in daily life; when we perceive something, how we receive it varies from person to person. For the same event, some people might think, "That was good," while others might feel, "That was unpleasant."

Even though the event is the same, a different interpretation makes it an entirely different experience.


And what makes human relationships and group living complicated is that people treat their "interpretations" as if they were "facts."

"This is how it is, right?" they say.

But perhaps it's not an apple or a watermelon, but simply "one's own way of seeing things."


What's in front of you,
Your relationships with others,
Your current situation.

While it seems like we're making the same interpretations, in reality, our ways of thinking are subtly different. I suppose there are as many interpretations as there are people.


If that's the case, rather than deciding, "This is how it is, right?"

Perhaps considering how others might think,
Or how it would be in a different situation,
Or experiencing the same event yourself,

I realized that interpreting things from various perspectives would lead to many discoveries.

Thank you to everyone who reads my trivial stories this week.