Luke's Thought of the Month - Perceptions

Perceptions

Rembrandt was nine years old when Shakespeare died.

I have always been struck by this remarkable fact. Initially through my own ignorance with jumbling historical figures and when they lived but as I reflected on it this became more about a very particular pivot point in history.

I think this is the very moment when ancient pivots to modern, at least in my perception.

Shakespeare seems far away and other worldly, not simply through vocabulary but in our perception he very definitely lives in a foreign country and far removed from everything that is familiar to us. Rembrandt, on the other hand, feels distinctly relatable and familiar – possibly this is because he painted so many self-portraits and little of substance is known about Shakespeare the man. It feels as if 1616 was when medieval ends and modern begins; that this moment is encapsulated more by these two supreme creative geniuses than any political or military event.

Perception is critical in the creative world. We are fascinated by the individual behind a creation, influenced by the provenance, inspired by the storyand engaged by the craftsmanship and material.

Perception is the illusion that elevates the creation into the truly unique human quality that is imagination.

But like my own ignorance about Rembrandt and Shakespeare, so many of our perceptions are simply wrong – we are not as perceptive as we think or perhaps, more accurately, we do not question things enough.

St Augustine did not bring Christianity to Britain – the Romans did 280 years before.

Most Cheese & Onion crisps are not vegetarian.

The days of the week are the sun, the moon, Norse heroes and a Roman god; the months of the year are numbers, emperors and gods; the word Easter is from Eostre the Anglo Saxon goddess of Spring; the words for the meat we eat are French in origin whereas the words for livestock are Saxon – simple to understand as the balance of power shifted after the Norman conquest. But even Norman is not what we think it is; this is not a Frenchman but a Norseman – they were Vikings who had settled in northern France.

Hitler was Austrian, Stalin Georgian, Churchill half American, Muhammed Ali’s grandfather was Irish (from County Clare) and Trump(f) comes from a long line of German draft dodgers (apart from one evil and very enthusiastic Nazi).

The early Christians were mostly crazed zealots who lived in caves and the word “pagan” did not exist before Christianity – the world before these zealots was all about “can” and as they took control became “can’t”.

The point of all of this is that everything is not as it seems – in some instances the mundane is romanticised, in others the heroic is demonised and yet others the romantic is made mundane. We should not believe everything we have been taught.

n the world of today it does seem that conspiracy theories have become the preserve of the right-wing ideology but while most of those theories revolve around some deranged ideas the point has been missed. The conspiracy all along has really been that we are not taught the truth and misinformation becomes received wisdom.

Perception really is storytelling and as such the storyteller gets to tell the story they choose to tell rather than the truth. As Churchill said, “history is written by the victors”.

And we really are not that perceptive.