PERCEPTION AND REACTION

COLOURS OF FLAME.

Okay, I know I hardly write anything just because I feel I might raise uncomfortable questions but why to make such an assumption, might be surprised someone might find it an interesting read, so here I am writing a fun piece and I hope you like going on trips because I will love to take you on one, so I will ask are you ready, let’s have some fun.

Around 7.30 pm on a cool Sunday evening, walking up the stairs to my room hoping to catch some rest or hopefully get to read that case or FIFA 20, sounds familiar right? Well, that didn’t happen because a funny question to my wife took me on a different journey which I am about to share with you.

Just before the stairs leading up to the beloved room is the kitchen and as expected my wife was making dinner, as I strolled past I was just curious at the sight of the burning gas she was using to make the rice and vegetable soup meant for dinner. I took a few steps back and walked up to her, gave her the look, am sure you are wondering “what’s the look”, well it’s the face I make when I am about to ask a STUPID QUESTION. I love asking a lot of stupid questions and my friends know this, therefore, I kept up with the attitude since I discovered they were enjoying it. 

Back to the kitchen with my wife after giving her the look, the reaction I got was expected as she knew what was coming. The question was simple and stupid, “What will do if for ANY REASON your burner fires up by itself without any physical interference?

I did warn it was a stupid question or maybe funny and stupid is the right combination, but for a moment let’s play this game, forget the natural laws of whatever you know which your 5 senses can interpret accurate, for a fact I am sure you have over 30years of experience mastering the act of using those senses and I am certain you have achieved some results, but this one time be open-minded to play a child’s game and try to picture the same scenario and the same question has been asked.

Before ABP sets in, that’s if it hasn’t already come to play in your analysis of this question as some may choose to ponder for a moment in your very intelligent minds and ask “what is he trying to say here? Or for some very skeptic persons, the idea of a supernatural flame showing up in their kitchen is already a NO-NO, let me start with the reaction I got from my wife while you make up your mind if you want to give it a try.

When I asked her this STUPID question, her face lite up but not with all seriousness because she is used to me doing this but as expected, her response was the typical response I would expect going by the natural law of how things work. My wife was clear about her decision; she was going to first RUN. I can’t blame her for her decision, it’s just a question of safety first for her and doing the obvious right thing which is to avoid what you don’t understand or it could be just fear. 

Thank God it was just a fiction and my wife didn’t have to run so I could drive the conversation further with a follow-up question that is also stupid in itself. I asked her what if the colour of the flame burning on her gas was white would she still run? SILENCE……………………………………………. Yes, I got a few minutes of silence and a funny smile on her face as if the flame just became something magical, and her supposed fear to the first question kind of disappeared.

Her response was quite interesting, she loved the idea of a supernatural white flame burning on her kitchen gas without any physical interference, she was willing to engage with the white magical flame, her expression was a divine call to heaven, maybe she thought angels came visiting. Well, I did laugh in my head but not out loud so I don’t ruin the moment.

Then I asked again, what if the colour of the flame was red, her reaction changed again, almost like she saw the devil this time, seeing that reaction I asked again, what If the colour of the flame was black, her face was stressed up like she didn’t like the picture I was fainting in her mind. It is not what she would like to see, she got scared again. Right there I understood again the power of perception and how they influence our actions and reactions to things, events, and circumstances around us. 

Perception is fueled by information that can be controlled by who is delivering the information, this is somehow a different topic to deal with therefore I will stick to my present line of thought. 

There are many layers to the event I presented above, let's pick a few and discuss. Take a quick recap through the above discussion, you will notice the changes in my wife’s reaction to my questions, you will notice that her first instinct was to run for her life at the appearance of the supernatural flame on her cooking gas, you can call it a typical Nigerian reaction. At this point, there was no question about the colour of the flame, no interest what so ever to investigate, her reaction was to run. I believe some of us take this approach to life, making decisions about things we do not understand just because we haven’t had such experience or because we feel we are not capable of having such experience so when we are faced with some unusual events that cannot be logically explained (may SWOT will help), we run. We do not try to investigate, we do not try to understand, we make a judgment call which most times is the easiest option available, RUN…………………………………………No one will call you a fool for running when a supernatural flame shows up in your kitchen you might even get the THANK GOD YOU ARE SAFE, THE DEVIL IS A LIAR comment from well-wishers who also do not understand that kind of experience. Am I saying you should stay and play with a supernatural flame, well I am not in a position to tell you what to do but I do know what I would do, and plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz don’t ask me what that would be, you decide yours?

The question is WHY DID MY WIFE RUN? all I mentioned was a flame without any adjective to describe what kind of flame it was. It was no surprise her reaction changed when I gave meaning and identity to the flame by mentioning different colours from white to red and black, that’s there is the power of perception at play again.

WHITE, RED and BLACK FLAMES

First, Does the colour of the flame matter? While you think about that, I will tell you why it was important for my wife.

My wife is a Christian and I am sure you get the drift already but I will use this simple illustration to explain how subtle suggestions or coded information can alter your perception of a thing irrespective of how it played out initially. For most Christians, God himself has been tagged with the colour white while the devil is black, I wonder you made this assertion, is it not funny as to how something that simple and baseless can influence a personal perception. 

My decision to give the flame colour a white identity gave my wife the feeling the flame was probably GOD himself showing up like HE did with Moses in the desert on his call to mission to deliver Israel from the Egyptians. But truly I never mention GOD, she gave it that meaning, all I said was “imagine it is a white flame”.

Is it not true that we accept subjective perceptions of things we don’t understand just because someone gave it a meaningful subjective identity that we can relate with because it aligns with something we believe? I do think so, that’s why it’s always good to ask questions, the right questions I must emphasis. Finding what the right question is can be very interesting in its uhm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

Pardon this my habit of trying to connect things in the abstract, maybe that’s why I don’t write (signs). I am sure you already have an idea what my wife’s reaction was to the other colours RED and BLACK she screamed THE BLOOD OF JESUS! We all laughed it off after I cracked a couple of jokes and the evening went on with me on my PS4 battling FIFA20 UEFA FINALS.

I am sure you get the whole drift now. Perception can be created with identity when that identity aligns with your belief, ideas, values, and experience. It is therefore imperative to always identify the identity a perception is creating based on the information you have received and question them. That way you will learn to identify what is important and deal with it accordingly to avoid treating the symptoms and not the root cause of the problem.

The question here is not the colour of the flames which created the perception but what the flame itself represents. I was able to distract my wife with the white flame to create a perception that allowed her to embrace what she would have run away from. But the flame is still the flame, the colours didn’t define the flame, she gave it those meanings. Is this also not true of marketing or do I say LIFE itself?

It is important to check that we are not reacting to situations based on ideas we have created on perceptions that are just mere distractions that may have been intentional or unintentional put in place to distract us from seeing the real thing. In simple English, ask questions, the right questions since eventually everyone is at the mercy of the depth of his or her knowledge bank. “Question the Answer and Question the Question”.

I hope I haven’t confused anyone but if one person will just question this write up itself is already a win for me (LOL). I do wish you a good day ahead and remember the colours don’t define the flame, the flame is still the flame irrespective of whatever the flame represents.

THANK YOU.