We Don't Know How Little We Know

February 21, 2026 - 00:42

Working with patients experiencing psychosis has offered a profound lesson in the nature of human perception. It reveals a stark truth: we often have no grasp of how little we truly know about the subjective worlds others inhabit. In the clinical setting, individuals live within realities built from internal narratives and sensory experiences that feel as concrete and true as our own, yet are entirely separate.

This professional insight casts the intense divisions within American society in a new light. The phenomenon is not merely one of disagreement over policies or facts, but something deeper. Increasingly, groups operate within self-contained informational ecosystems and cultural narratives that function like distinct subjective realities. What feels undeniably true and obvious within one reality can be incomprehensible or false in another.

The challenge this poses is immense. It moves beyond debates of right and wrong to a fundamental disconnect in the perception of the world itself. Recognizing this is the first step. It forces a humility about our own certainty and suggests that bridging these divides requires more than exchanging facts. It demands a difficult, empathetic effort to first acknowledge the very different foundations of another's lived experience, a task as complex as it is necessary for a shared future.