Eye Opener

[TriggerUnhappy]

Throughout life, we often just live from moment to moment, questioning nothing. However, every now and again, something comes along that makes us think and question everything around us, changing your perception of the world, people, and yourself forever. So I ask you fellow Escapists, what things have you found that made you question the world/ altered your perception? I thought of this thread, after reading Anthem by Ayn Rand, and it got me thinking about the world around me, and how my perceptions have changed throughout life. For me, Fight Club, George Carlin, and Bill Hicks are what made me open my eyes and question everything. I often sat and wondered about the world around me, but these particular people/things changed the way I thought and made me ask new questions about everything. I can't really go into detail about how they altered my perception, for I seem to view every aspect of life differently than how I viewed them before I watched them.

In case you missed the question, what have you seen/found that altered your perception of reality, and made you question the things around you? It could have been an event, person, speech, etc. as long as it did something to change you.

 

[Katherine Kerensky]

well, a certain webcomic altered my perception for the better (sounds like something out of fallout 3 :| ), but it didn't make me question things.
I just have a brain that makes me question things anyway.

 

[TriggerUnhappy]

well, a certain webcomic altered my perception for the better (sounds like something out of fallout 3 :| ), but it didn't make me question things.
I just have a brain that makes me question things anyway.

Yeah, I always question and analyze everything around me, but what I meant was these things altered my perception by changing the way I question and analyze things in life

 

[grimsprice]

Well, there were a lot of events. First: Probably reading the Bible. I realized just how little it had to do with what the Christian leaders shovel down on their sheep. Really galvanized me against religions. [activate-flame-shield] .

Second: The first time i proved my dad wrong, i realized no one has an immutable opinion. I started researching every thing i possibly could and began to create my own ideas and opinions.

 

[space_oddity]

Thoreau usually does it for me.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life"

 

[The Man Who Is Thursday]

Dostoevsky. Especially Brothers Karamazov.

I guess it's sort of cliche to throw that book out there since it's so eminent, but in all honesty it deserves it. It's hard to read and dense at times, but the content and characters are worth it. The chapters "Rebellion," "The Grand Inquisitor," and the one with Satan are brilliant.

 

[TriggerUnhappy]

Every time I think about how old I am and what I have done with my life my perception changes. XD
Then I usually figure I do not care enough to change so go back to what I am.
Same as when we had a death in the family, that changed me for like all of a week...

The same happens to me, but only at night. I'll lay there and think I discovered something amazing, only to wake up the next morning and wonder "What the hell was I thinking?". Afterward, life goes back to normal until the next night where I have another "revelation". XD

 

[Skeleon]

Well, back when I was a little boy, not really caring for religion at all, but going to classes nonetheless because they were mandatory, we talked about other religions besides Christianity.
And I wondered: "How can all of them claim to be true when they clearly contradict each other?"
I had never believed in anything supernatural, as far as I can remember, but that's the point when I began actively doubting anything I was told.
So while I was an "atheist by default" all my life, this is the moment, I think, I became aware I was one.

 

[traceur_]

No, not really, I still don't give a shit about most of what happens.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

Lolita, The Handmaid's Tale, Ender's Game and Enders's Shadow, The Journey of Ibn Fattouma, and American Gods.

 

[Shapsters]

I was walking in Disneyland the other day and I saw an overweight Mexican gentleman eating a package of mayonnaise with about 4 more waiting in his hand. This made me open my eyes and say "What the fuck?!?"

 

[Sprogus]

American Gods did that for me. Just because the gods of the old world are gone doesn't me we stop sacrificing things to the gods of the new world. The new gods being tv, computers, cars etc. We now sacrifice our time to tv and it gains power each year, those of us with dodgy cars pray to it each morning hoping that it start. It really changed the way I view things.

 

[twistedshadows]

My feelings about the world and life in general greatly changed twice when I watched two people die slowly of cancer (on separate occasions).
A number of books, movies, and classes/teachers have also affected me.

 

[Motiv_]

After I got shot the first time, it really made me think about how weak humans are and how mortal we really are. I do believe the phrase "You have to get burned to know not to touch the stove" comes to mind.

 

[Jedoro]

Well, there were a lot of events. First: Probably reading the Bible. I realized just how little it had to do with what the Christian leaders shovel down on their sheep. Really galvanized me against religions. [activate-flame-shield].

I'm a Christian myself and I've drifted away from religion. Not God, necessarily, but the religious establishment.

I'd kill someone if anyone tried to make me Catholic...

OT: Ninja'd above, but Fight Club. I'll never forget how much that book truly changed my life.

 

[ae86gamer]

For me it was realizing how fast I'm growing up. I'm 17 years, I'm still young, but it feels like time is moving too quickly and I'm growing up way too fast.

 

[Biosophilogical]

The Tomorrow Series by John Marsden (Those books are Epicly-Awesomely-Fantastically-F***tastic) They really make you question stuff and were a major influence in my early adolescence.

 

[Angerwing]

Fight Club, made me realise the futility of common existence and for me to actually live my 1 life. Speaker for the Dead, made me realise that the people I love and hate are beautiful, and just as special as me. Brave New World made me realise just what society is making me into, the common conditioning we all have that shape our moral sensibilities, also that other cultures with very different sensibilities (even taboo by our standards) aren't necessarily wrong, just different.

 

[Bobkat1252]

I'd say the novel 1984, my high school, and growing up listening to Rage Against the Machine. Now I'm distrustful of any authoritarian position!

 

[Akai Shizuku]

Rage Against the Machine. They really opened my eyes up about stuff.