Perception is is the attempt to standardize the metaphor of the depiction of space....

[WCGreen]

Artist Rackstraw Downes made this comment when he was describing how he views his approach to realism in th 21st century.

He doesn't let perspective rule his paintings but uses it as a sense of starting off point.

It's from the PBS series, Art in the 21st Century.

I was struck by that quote, or really his statement on his outlook, and realize that is a fine place to start looking at the reality of any situation.

The perceptions that we all carry into any part of our lives, why we like certain stuff and detest other things, is all based, I think, on the perspective that you have when your views on any given subject are first needed. We keep that defining moment on that issue, for most of us, until we die or something comes along so drastic in your life to make you see the world in a different perspective.

We use perspective to define the world as we grow into it.

My perspective has changed many time over the years, but in all such cases, a lot of thought has been given.

It's hard to break out of that mold we have constructed and since we are bombarded with so many issues on so many areas of our lives that it is just becomes easier to hold on to how you view the world.

I just was struck by that comment from Downes. It's like one of those jumping off points that you embrace because it seems like a fit only this time, I think it has provided another grounding for why my take on the world is fungible and changing. I guess that is why I am a liberal, in the classic sense.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. It is definitely true that we form most of our opinions when we're young and flexible.

Our minds seem more capable then of viewing different ideas without too much difficulty. That changes as we age; it gets harder, as you say, when we're bombarded with so much stuff.

Staying flexible into our mature years is certainly a sign of a classical liberal.

You do it well.