Perception can be described as an interpretive – and often subjective – cognitive process. It involves the active transformation and organisation of sensory input into interpretative frameworks that allow us to contact, interpret, and interact with an ever-changing world. Perception is also critical to sense-making, as we use it to search our environment searching for meaning. As Bateson warns, ‘perception is an action, not a holding’, a reminder that when we perceive something our attitude changes the resulting perception. This process both produces and develops our understanding of our surroundings, allowing us to form connections, abstractions, and narrative linkages to our environment.

See also: mutual learning, gregory bateson, living system, complex system, systems thinking