Blind Perceptions

“The loss of the creature” is a strong essay in which the writer, Walker Percy has expressed his vision of world in a different way. He makes an argument about how having prepackaged idea about something, can create a symbolic complex in individual’s mind, causing them to lose the true essence behind it. Percy presents examples after examples making them connection of how one has lost an experience through various symbolic complexes and by the means of trying to achieve that experience. Percy writes that understanding can be reached through the true experience. People can only have a true experience of something if they can get rid of all the social biases and prejudices, and experience it by ignoring everything one has already heard about

In his article “The Loss of The Creature,” Walker Percy presents the case that human or “creature’s” experiences are most often trivial because of our preconceived notions. Percy believes we can only truly enjoy these experiences if we leave the “beaten track.” Only then can we see the true beauty of the experience.

“The Loss of the Creature” is an essay in which the author, Walker Percy has communicated his vision of world in an alternate manner. He makes an argument about how having prepackaged idea about something, can create a symbolic complex in individual’s mind, making them to lose the true essence behind it. He composes that understanding can be reached through the true experience. The experiences I like to share based on my essay is the time I flew on a plane, the time I when to Boston for the first time, and my first time on a cruise.

A glaring irregularity in the steady stream of supporting statements Percy puts forth is the example of a tourist couple that gets lost in the mountains and ends up ”…in a tiny valley not even marked on the map. There they discover an Indian village.” At a glance, this is a perfect example of true discovery! It is everything that Percy wants the reader to have! But as the reader keeps reading, he quickly realizes that he has fallen into the same trap the aforementioned tourists fell into. “The couple know at once that this is ‘it’….Yet it is more likely that what happens is…a rather desperate impersonation…an actual loss of hope.” After the winded reader gets up from the height from which he just fell, he realizes that the couple, as Percy says, “…[Has] the experience in the bag.” Discovery itself is a tourist attraction. It is this example that indicates that there is no other way to regain sovereignty than through the individual’s own perception. No amount of literal discovery will create the subjective experience of discovery. This conjecture is verified when Percy later points out that the couple wants their expert friend to see the village “not to share their experience, but to certify their experience as genuine.” The couple wants to bag and tag their “discovery,” effectively

When looking for things to do in our lifetimes, we tend to look at what other people do in order to take inspiration and do whatever they did for ourselves. However, there is a point where instead of naturally discovering what life has to offer for ourselves, we instead rely on how others experienced it and use that as a guide to shape our expectations for something. In Walker Percy’s writing “The Loss of the Creature”, he explores a concept he calls, “loss of sovereignty”. What he means by this term is that people will surrender free thoughts of their own and rely instead on what other people's brains think, then live off others thoughts instead of their own. To add explanation, people surrender their own thoughts and expectations, Percy says, “The consumer is content to receive an experience just as it has been presented to him by theorists and planners. The reader may also be content to judge life by whether it has or has not been formulated by those who know and write about life” (3). This shows that if the person experiencing something new in this world for the first time, they will fear that they would not know what to look out for. So they rely on others, especially the so-called “experts” to guide the road for them instead. The overall message Percy argues when it comes to Part I of “The Loss of the Creature” is that people will not let their own natural thoughts dictate what they personally think about experiencing something and instead, use others experiences to

In the essay “The Loss of the Creature”, Walker Percy highlights his observations on how people perceive the world. He argues that we have lost original, self-driven learning because people only measure their experiences based on other people’s expectations. He states how these preconceived expectations of our experiences give way to a symbolic complex. This complex is set by what people or “Layman” believe the experts have set. Therefore, their experience is only validated if people feel that they have met those criteria. He believes that people can only have a true experience if they forgo all those preconceived expectations and biases. Only then can people truly experience something at face value.

Perception about the real experience and understanding the beauty of the world made me think about myself. Percy’s “Loss of The Creature” resembles the forgotten value of true experience of world and how people are overlooking the true meaning of things and just looking at the symbolic complex. I came up with an understanding from Percy’s thought that people can only have a true experience of something if they can get rid of all prejudices and experience its present by ignoring everything one has previously already heard about it and look at it from a whole new perspective. Especially in our society today, people are so caught up in taking pictures, talking on their phone, and social media that when a moment presents itself we are oblivion to seeing the true beauty of it. I would say that I am a common reader. I personally read the text the way the author presents it to me, and agrees with everything they say. I never question the text; I always just assume its right. I don’t look deeper into the subject the author presents to me. I am a student, and I am currently not looking to be a sovereign knower. Reading “The Loss of the Creature” I’d preferred and tried to read it as a complex reader, because in that I way I can truly get ahold of the message Percy is trying

“The Loss of the Creature” is an anecdotal essay by the American Southern philosopher Walker Percy. Percy has a different view of life and expresses his views distinctively through his writing. Throughout the essay, he emphasized on the effects of having prepackaged or preconceived notions about the world and people around us can determine how an individual sees the world. These notions, which can come from social or societal expectations, can lead to symbolic complexes in an individual’s mind, leading to the false appreciation and gratification. In order to demonstrate his point, Percy uses hypothetical characters in theoretical situations to prove how people use symbolic complexes to measure up to their expectations.

“The Loss of the Creature” is an anecdotal essay by the American Southern philosopher Walker Percy. Percy has a different view of life and expresses his views distinctively through his writing. Throughout the essay, he emphasized on the effects of having prepackaged or preconceived notions about the world and people around can determine how an individual sees the world. These notions, which can come from social or societal expectations, can lead to symbolic complexes in an individual’s mind, leading to the false appreciation and gratification. An overarching theme throughout the essay is that one’s pre-formed expectations and can lead to the loss of the essence behind it. In order to demonstrate his point; Percy uses hypothetical characters in theoretical situations to prove how people can truly experience something if they get rid of all social biases and prejudices, and neglecting what they heard about it.

Critical Analysis #3 “The Loss of the Creature” by Walter Percy is about his views and beliefs on whether or not everyone receives the same experience from visiting a new place. The author believes that no one will ever get the same experience as the person who first discovered the land or object because they have expectations from hearing or seeing facts about it somewhere. Percy’s purpose in writing this essay is to argue how strongly he believes that people should live in the moment, not be afraid to get off the beaten path of life, and try things they never seen themselves doing before. The author uses examples, such as, how when Garcia Cardenas discovered the Grand Canyon, it was like nothing he has ever seen before, to make his argument.

If someone in the world doesn’t already know, I love to dance, more specifically I love to do ballet. There is never a day that passes where I don’t do something ballet related, like actually going to class, or on my “off days,” dancing around in my kitchen waiting for my chicken nuggets to become golden brown. I have been through some arduous times with ballet, but it is what helped me learn to become a better dancer. If there is one thing I would let anyone know about ballet, regardless if they are just starting or professional, is that it is nearly impossible to reach your maximum skill capacity if you compare yourself to other people. Of course, how would I know that if I haven’t been there before?

The history of ballet is rich, complex and full of powerful meanings depending on the time period. Ballet in the 15th century was seen as something that only select individuals could do, whereas, the 20th century ballet can be preformed by anyone. By thinking about how ballet performers have changed, a question may be thought is, have the people attending these ballet performances changed as well as the performers themselves? Today, children from ages two and up start taking ballet and family members come and watch their final recitals. National ballet companies are also an event and often draw attention to the higher-class individuals who have a taste for ballet. The ballet world could be seen as to having a quite array of attendees, events and functions, but that might not have always been the

Throughout history, noble kings and powerful leaders have fallen from power due to their blindness towards people they trusted. Novels, such as William Shakespeare’s King Lear convey a similar message. Although blindness is conceived as the lack of sight by many, metaphorically speaking, blindness is the inability to see and interpret the truth due to one’s deceptiveness and lies. In King Lear, Lear’s blindness towards Goneril and Regan, and his arrogance, results in his downfall. Similarly, Gloucester’s blind-eye towards Edmund results in his downfall and ironically, his loss of eye-sight. Shakespeare conveys, through the life and dialogue of Lear and Gloucester,

At the ripe age of fourteen, I became an anomaly. An anomaly who was well-known throughout the fiercely competitive world of ballet; the girl who started ballet at fourteen, and worked so hard she was company ready by seventeen. I was the girl who international company directors from New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, and more referred to as the “racehorse”. And with the snap of a finger, or rather, my back, it was all gone. All it took was forty-eight hours. You could accomplish a lot in forty-eight hours: travel to Australia and back, write a term paper or two, drive from Vancouver to Montreal. In forty-eight hours, my world came crashing down. I was ushered from doctor to doctor, each giving me the same dreaded news; bed rest for two weeks, and never dance again. I was faced not only with an existential mid-teen crisis, but also a vastly important and nerve-racking question, whose answer I feared greater than any performance to a sold out theatre: What next?

When comparing decision biases it is sometimes difficult to easily see the differences. Selective perception and confirmation bias are different in because of emotion. Selective perception is based on needs, motivation or experiences and confirmation bias is based on preexisting beliefs or personal memories. Confirmation biases contribute to overconfidence in personal beliefs and can maintain or strengthen beliefs in the face of contrary evidence. Poor decisions due to these biases have been found in political and organizational