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There is a myth that bees shouldn't be able to fly. According to the myth, bees are not supposed to be able to fly because their wings are too small for their bodies. Because of that fact, say the repeaters of the myth, bees' flight mechanics oppose the laws of physics. The myth is often used to motivate people who must succeed in the face of opposition, whether the statistical likelihood is daunting or other scientific data threatens to cause a dream to be deferred.
Though the use of the myth may create motivation and people who quote it may believe the myth to be true, that perception is merely a perception - not the truth. Those conclusions are based on myths. Even if someone uses the word "fact" while sharing a myth, the person has not changed the truth. The person has only provided an example of how a myth can change people's perceptions.
Myths Can Change Perceptions - Not Truth
Contrary to what you may have been told, your perception is not, by default, true, though it can be. According to dictionary.com, perception is "the act or faculty of perceiving, or apprehending by means of the senses or of the mind." The definition makes it clear that that which is notably perceived is a result of the conclusions made as information and/or experiences are filtered through the senses or the mind of a person or group of people. Truth, in contrast, is not based on the senses but rather matter or the facts themselves. As dictionary.com puts it, truth is "the true or actual state of a matter"; truth is "a verified or indisputable fact, proposition, principle, or the like."
It's dangerous to blindly tell people that their perception is truth. That devalues the truth. Imagine what would happen if an optometrist felt compelled to accept people's perceptions as the truth. The optometrist would send a bunch of people out into the world with faulty vision prescriptions because if clients perceived the big E to be a M, then the optometrist would say, "That perception is the truth."
Perceptions Needs to be Evaluated
It's much safer to teach people to evaluate perceptions for validity. Why? Well, because evaluating perceptions can help distinguish a perception that is a perception from a perception that is the truth. Otherwise, people risk minimizing truth in the face of cognitive dissonance, sensory overload, chemical imbalance, optical illusions, auditory tricks, or other neurological, psychological or sensory malfunctions or damage.
Even if the senses all function correctly, someone could still misinterpret the facts. Take the widely repeated statement about bees for example. The myth reportedly stems from a French entomologist's and his assistant's conclusions drawn in the 1930s. Working from the framework that a bee's flight should follow the same patterns of an airplane, their perceptions make sense to someone seeking to make sense of them, but the perceptions were and are, nonetheless, incorrect.
Bees' ability to fly does not demonstrate nature doing the impossible.
Instead, bees' practices while flying presents a beautiful anomaly, or better put, the truth paradox: The truth is available if one seeks to perceive it, but perceiving alone does not present truth.
The French entomologist and his assistant truly reported according to what was perceived, but the truth was not in what was perceived at that time but rather what would be perceived over time. Bees' wings do not operate like an airplane; they do not work to throw air down to create an upward force. Instead, bees move their flight muscles quickly circularly, rather than vertically, creating wind patterns that create small air vortices that allow them to fly.
Accept that More Information Can Always Be Learned
Bees' flight patterns present anomalies, but they do not make flight impossible for bees. Similarly, a person's perception can give access to the truth, but they are not always the truth.
In an effort to correctly address misinformation, people need to be willing to recognize fallacies that exist in a conversation, even when they are presented as facts. Having different perceptions of the same event does not mean that people need blurt out that someone is being absurd, but the varied perceptions do present an opportunity that begs to be taken: Dig deeper into the perceptions and test the validity of each one without minimizing the likelihood of either option in pursuit of the truth.
Maybe that's the benefit of remembering the bee myth. The misinformation is a reminder to be open to further evaluating possibilities. Bees adapt, and because of that, they're able to do what they need to do, despite how inefficient observers might claim their practices are. One critical lesson that can found while examining the perceptions that developed the bee myth is that experts should not dismiss new or different approaches just because they have always believed there is only one right way. If the bees did that, we'd have crop, flower, and honey crises on our hands.
Remember a perception is based on the senses. On the other hand, the truth is based on the facts. Don't get so caught up with what is in hand that you forget to open your hand up to other solutions and possibilities. There are more ways to fly. There are more ways to perceive. There are more ways to arrive at the truth, but don't ever forget that the truth is the truth.
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