Perception

Is what we see true?  If I gaze at a flower, my brain will tell me its petals are shaped like swollen rain drops, with a blood stain of color, gathered together on a long base of fragile green plant.  Then it will tell me that it is a rose.  But who decided it was a rose?  And yes, if it were by any other name, would it still smell as sweet?  I wonder if the scent I experience is the same as what you experience.  I was told, long ago, to recognize this mental and visual experience as "red."  Is your red the same as my red?  If I paint a wall "red" on stage, will you feel the same deep passion that I wanted you to feel when I painted it that hue?  

What do you feel when you look at a red rose.  Is it the sign of passion, romance?  Love?  But is this instinctive or is this what you were taught to feel?  What if you could look at a red rose, with no precedented emotion, what would that feel like?  I wish I knew.  If I could taste cinnamon and describe it without saying "It tastes like cinnamon," and feel silk without knowing how soft it should be.  These experiences you only get once, at an age and mental development that you cannot recall or hold on to.  I remember my first cigarette, the first time I made love, my first tattoo - but even these are now vague recollections that vanish like smoke.  What if we could do it all again.

If I were a stage designer, I would want my audience to come in and experience something they hadn't ever encountered before.  Of course they know the bits and pieces - wood, steel, cloth, red, green, dark, light - but as a whole, as a unit, there should be nothing they could compare it to.  How do you create something like this?