Observations On Perception

 

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Author’s Note

The conditions that pass through this text continue in “The Impossibility of Conviction” and “The Impossibility of Recognition.”

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Ricardo F. Morín
April 17 through May 14, 2026
In transit

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A conversation,  a concern,  a loss or a moment of joy begin to take shape when they remain present long enough to demand attention,  alter our conduct or affect our relation with others.  Our lives do not acquire form through intensity or through the scarcity of what occurs.

There are days that pass leaving almost no trace.  Conversations are forgotten.  One concern gives way to another before it can alter what follows.

At other times,  everything demands attention at once.  Attention passes from one incident to another before anything acquires consequence.  What is immediate displaces what needed to remain present.  Priorities begin to blur into one another,  and nothing retains enough presence to awaken interest.

An empty day disappears without resistance;  a day in which everything demands attention dissolves in much the same way.  In both cases,  a conversation,  a concern or a loss cease affecting the way a person responds to what unfolds around them.

Either nothing succeeds in awakening interest,  or what does awaken it loses force among too many competing demands upon attention.  Boredom may appear even when nothing seems to be missing.

Proportion allows a conversation,  a loss,  a concern or a moment of joy to remain present long enough to acquire consequence alongside one another.  Without proportion,  conversations,  concerns and responsibilities begin to disperse before they can remain related to one another.  With proportion,  a conversation,  a loss or a responsibility may preserve enough presence to continue affecting the way a person attends or responds.

When that relation weakens,  judgment begins to weaken with it.  What is trivial acquires urgency,  while a loss,  a responsibility or an important relation recede without drawing attention.  Public life eventually reflects the same condition:  noise makes it difficult to distinguish what truly demands our attention,  and people begin reacting more through accumulation than through understanding.

What is near may impose itself until it occupies everything.  What is distant may withdraw until it loses presence.  Between those extremes,  conversations,  concerns and relations still manage to remain separate.

Proportion changes with the demands of life,  with attention,  fatigue,  pressure and the capacity to remain affected by what occurs.  It does not remain static.  A person may come to no longer recognize what once mattered to them,  not because they decided to abandon it,  but because the relation to a loss,  a responsibility or another person also changes under certain conditions.

Boredom appears when a conversation,  a concern,  a responsibility or a relation cease remaining present long enough to continue affecting the way a person attends,  remembers or responds.  For this reason,  boredom does not depend upon how much happens or how little does.

Dissatisfaction and skepticism emerge when a conversation,  a loss or a responsibility no longer preserve sufficient relation to what continues occurring around them.  Dissatisfaction and skepticism are not the origin of this condition.

At times,  a person continues speaking,  working or responding without knowing what still preserves relation to their life.  Even under those conditions,  another person’s affection,  a remembered conversation or someone’s presence may remain active while many concerns begin losing consequence.  At times,  they are the only things still preserving relation to what continues.

Proportion exists in allowing a conversation,  a loss,  a responsibility or a relation to preserve enough presence to continue affecting the way we attend,  remember or respond to what occurs.  Maintaining proportion does not consist in reducing life.

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