(8.1) The subjective phenomenon of perception of things in nature its occurrence in the
mind happens only in the time present of the perception and not in the time past of the objective cause
for the creation of the subjective perception of the cause. As such, perception always lags observation by an
amount dependent of the kind of sensory data acquired by the brain in time past and utilized by the brain in
creating it. That is, the creation of a perception is always a combination of the physical awareness of the brain of
the environment at various time intervals of time past. As an example, auditory sensory data requires a
time interval of 8-10 milliseconds post stimulus to reach the brain while visual sensory data requires a time interval
of 20-40 milliseconds. Touch sensory data may require even longer time intervals depending on how distant from the
brain the sensory data was created. Tactile sensory data from a stubbed toe may take as much as 250 milliseconds to reach the
brain but that from a touch to the face as short as that for sound. The brain will have received and processed the neural sensory
data and prompted an action in the form of a physical response to the stubbed toe long before the perception of pain has
been created in the mind. That is, the latency of onset of the creation of perception is about 0.5 millisecond per
neural synapse in the neural path the sensory data must follow to the brain.
(8.1.1) Perception is a subjective phenomenon arising from mental processes in the
brain using sensory data acquired from the objective environment in nature.
(8.1.2) Perceptions may held of the known knowable, the as yet unknown knowable and false
knowledge.
(8.2) Perception is transitory and changes as dictated by the laws of nature for both the observer and
that observed.
(8.3) Perceptions of events from time past may persist as a nimbus we shall call perceived
memory. The persistence of perceived memories in the mind we shall call perceived knowledge. Perceived knowledge may be false knowledge if the perception itself is false.
(8.3.1) Perceptions may or may not be retained in memory. Further, not all perceived memory and not all
perceived knowledge is persistent in memory.
(8.4) The nimbus of perception is ineffable, incapable of being described and communicated with language.
(8.5) The perception of nimbus is itself a nimbus.
(8.6) Perception does not always echo reality. As an example, we see the apple on the table and perceive it to
be red in color when, in fact, it is only red in our perception of it. Indeed, neither the apple nor the light has no objective color at all. Only
light of a certain wavelength is capable of being perceived in our mind as having the qualia of the subjective color
red. So it is that the apple only reflects that light of the wavelength necessary to produce the quale of red in our
mind and, but in reality, the apple itself is not red. If we perceive that the apple itself to be red and
believe it to be so, that is false knowledge held as truth. Indeed, to a red-green color blind person, the
"red" Braeburn apple is perceived to be the same color as a "green" Granny Smith apple. And, a
"red" apple illuminated with only "blue" light is perceived to be a black apple without any color at all.
A second example of an erroneous perception is that of the sound of a whistle on a train changing from a higher pitch to a lower
pitch as it passes you as the observer. But if you are riding on the train you will correctly perceive that the pitch of the
whistle itself doesn't change at all as it passes by you, yet the sound that you hear standing on the ground does, in fact,
change in pitch. But if you run along side the train at the same speed as the train the pitch you hear will not be heard to
change. This is an example of a reality being perceived different by two different observers in different frames of
reference. It is also an example of the quale of sound not produced by the whistle itself which only produces a
cyclical change (corresponding to the pitch) in the pressure of the air that issues from it but rather from the action of the
changes in air pressure on sound sensors in our ear and the subsequent sensory signals they send over our neural
system to our brain for processing as the quale of sound. Only your mind can perceive the sound of a train whistle
or that of a tree falling in the forest. No sensory signals to the brain, produces no perception of the quale of sound
in the mind. Indeed, a deaf person can never experience the quale of sound.
Yet another common false perception is that the sun sets over the western horizon of the earth at sunset. The sun does not move at
all relative to the observer. Rather the earth rotates about its north-south axis and obstructs the observer's view of the sun to the
west as it does so giving the false perception of the sun setting below the western horizon.
(8.7) Erroneous perceptions of reality are common and lead to not only false knowledge but also to many, if not
most, false beliefs.
(8.8) All actions and the events involving those actions can'; be perceived correctly. But both magicians
and nature are masters at creating false perceptions.
(8.9) As humans, we live our lives in a sea of perceptions, some reflecting reality and some not.
(8) While the subjective phenomenon of perception in the mind is our window to the reality of nature and our knowledge of it, perception is replete with error.