Yeah, “Beauty…” I’ve heard it, too, but that’s not where I’m headed tonight.
What you see, and what I see, are often two different things, even if we’re looking at the same scene. This is why “eye witness” testimony is often unreliable. Two people can experience the same event, and describe it in such a way that it’s hard to believe they both saw the same thing. Because they didn’t.
Experiment after experiment shows this phenomenon. What you see isn’t solely a function of what was actually there. It’s what you noticed about what was there, filtered through your own history and experience. Is the glass half empty, or half full? Yes. Both may be correct interpretations of the state of the glass.
I often come onto a scene that’s already in progress. I’ll round a corner or enter a room, and catch an expression or a few words, but not enough to make sense of what I’m seeing or hearing. Yet my brain insists on completing the story, so will fill in the gaps in a way that makes sense. To me, and my peculiar history. (That’s “peculiar” as in unique, not as odd.)
Don’t call me a liar because you didn’t see what I saw. You and I didn’t see the same thing, even if we were walking side by side when we saw it.