Perception Forms Reality

or Happy New Year 2026

No matter what I write on these blank pages, each pair of eyes will perceive it in their own way. Our brains, in fact, can only perceive fragments of information and then make up the rest of the puzzle pieces to create a story. We have taken this ability of our brains to put together a story from fragments to a dangerous extreme: we read a news article title or watch one reel and presume that we understand all the complexities of a situation that’s happening on the world platform. We form opinions based on little evidence and miserly facts, and when I say we, I mean all of us. I, myself, am no exception.

“Do your own research” has become a meme used against people who didn’t believe in vaccination in the Covid years, and now it has settled as an insult. What a shame. Leave it to the experts, they say. That’s a retarded way to live, and yes, I used the word “retarded.” I’m sure AI will scan all the words in this article and shrink its visibility into oblivion so that sensitive eyes never have to see it. I don’t care. I don’t have much of a platform anyway, and there is a freedom to that. Basic human freedom to say what I want—albeit I do accept there are consequences to words.

But yes, me dropping the simple word “retarded” in a sentence has created an image or an opinion of who I am as a person. I only dropped one unsavoury word, and your brain has already constructed the rest of the story. The problem with that story about me in your mind (if you are a stranger and you don’t know me, of course) is that you are most likely wrong. The way I act, the way I treat people, my political beliefs, my relationships, my social status, and my general attitude towards life, all that you have imagined, and I guarantee you that you are completely wrong. Assumptions are a dangerous game, and we are all playing it.

My words, like everyone else’s, cannot be read in a vacuum. We have to learn to ask questions again. Become curious again. We millennials, especially, must take it as our responsibility to lead the younger generations into the light. We must remember our roots. We are punk rock babies and the children of the internet. When did we become so afraid of the dark? Millennials are walking around the world anxious, depressed, self-absorbed, and we are taking the younger ones with us.

I’m not simply pointing fingers at my own generation or even speaking purely from my own experience. Look at the suicide rates amongst young people, especially men. Look at how many people live their day-to-day lives on antidepressants. Is it manageable, or is it killing your soul in slow motion?

“Well, the experts say antidepressant side effects are worth the numbness we experience instead of living life in full colour.” I just made up that quote, because fuck what the experts say. Who are these experts anyway? Who vetted them to be the speakers for the public? The only revolution we need is the revolution within ourselves, that is to live an authentic life, not stuck in a broken system that eats away at our spirit and only seeks to control.

So stop listening to the noise. Go into nature and listen to the whispers of the birds and the trees as the wind rustles the leaves, while there is still nature to spare. Don’t buy into the marketing of political outrage; rather, go into the silence of your soul and listen to what she has to tell you.

The spider weaves the web of stories, and the further you are from the middle of the web, the harder it will be to break through. No matter what I write on these blank pages, each pair of eyes will perceive it differently. Each one will recognise their own little prison that their brain has succumbed to and I’m no exception. Nothing is ever as it seems.

Growing up, I got lucky. Being born in Russia and enrolled in an international school in Japan with an American curriculum, I learned three different versions of history. It’s not even the fact that someone is maliciously lying, although that could also be the case but rather that everyone sees events from the perspective of where they are standing. Our historical background, genetics, and natural predispositions force us to see things in our own unique way. Count all the people in the world, and you’ve just learned how many perspectives there are on this planet. That’s what makes the world such a beautiful place. There is no reason to argue over opinions, because opinions only change when the mind is willing.

There is reason to stop, hear, and listen to others, and through these stories; through kind disagreements rather than outrage we learn more about the world, about humanity, as we all collectively divinely create the wheel of Samsara. And then, of course, surprisingly and unexpectedly, through shutting up and listening, we learn more about ourselves. Listening without assuming and asking more questions. Every assumption that is born within your brain is a question waiting to be asked.

In that way, through the contrast against the opinions of another human being, through thoughts that pop in like “I’m like this” but “I’m not like that,” we learn who we are and how we can be better and there is no higher purpose than that.

Happy New Year.