Different Views
The Blue Marble is a photograph taken by Apollo 17 on its way to the Moon in 1972. While not the first image of the Earth from space, it is widely accepted as the first image that changed mankind’s perspective about its relationship to the Earth and universe. As it sits alone in the vast expanse of darkness, it shifts our attention from our immediate surroundings, to understanding a much wider interpretation of the world. In an instant, it makes personal how we share this beautiful, puny, vulnerable, isolated, and finite planet. Awareness of this perspective, was emblematic to helping usher in an environmental movement.
So, how is it that some can see chaotic protests in the streets as righteous demonstrations for dignity and equality, while others see them as a lawless defiance of authority, reason, and respect for property? Why do some see guns as weapons of death and destruction, and others see them as a birthright and a tool for the enjoyment and protection of life? How is it that two people can go through the same event and come out with two different experiences? Why does one person see the cup as half empty, and another as half full? It has to do with our perspective.
Perspective is the way we view the world and our relationship to it. Therefore, we do not see the world as it really is, we see the world as we are. This makes our view of the world unique through the lens of the many attributes of our own lives. All the things of our life experience — our upbringing, families, education, faith, relationships, ego, culture, position, health, wealth, travels, geography, and more – create the totality of our viewpoint. This viewpoint is just that — a single point from which we take a view.
I once had a boss who told me that “we stand where we sit.” Meaning our viewpoints reflect our station and conditions. Even our mood contributes to our perspective. And this is the filtered lens from which we interact and live our lives. This lens creates the perspective from which we operate.
Awareness of our perspectives is difficult because they run in the background, largely subconsciously. The perspective our paradigms create is hindered by our many biases and assumptions. Consequently, we see a world according to our own preferences.
One Story
The late Steven Covey tells his story of himself on a subway when he experienced a shift of paradigm:
I remember a mini-Paradigm Shift I experienced one Sunday morning on a subway in New York. People were sitting quietly — some reading newspapers, some lost in thought, some resting with their eyes closed. It was a calm, peaceful scene. Then suddenly, a man and his children entered the subway car. The children were so loud and rambunctious that instantly the whole climate changed.
The man sat down next to me and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to the situation. The children were yelling back and forth, throwing things, even grabbing people’s papers. It was very disturbing. And yet, the man sitting next to me did nothing.
It was difficult not to feel irritated. I could not believe that he could be so insensitive to let his children run wild like that and do nothing about it, taking no responsibility at all. It was easy to see that everyone else on the subway felt irritated, too. So finally, with what I felt was unusual patience and restraint, I turned to him and said, “Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I wonder if you couldn’t control them a little more?
The man lifted his gaze as if to come to a consciousness of the situation for the first time and said softly, “Oh, you’re right. I guess I should do something about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it either.”
Can you imagine what I felt at that moment? My paradigm shifted. Suddenly I saw things differently, I felt differently, I behaved differently. My irritation vanished. I didn’t have to worry about controlling my attitude or my behavior; my heart was filled with the man’s pain. Feelings of sympathy and compassion flowed freely. “Your wife just died? Oh, I’m so sorry. Can you tell me about it? What can I do to help?” Everything changed in an instant.
Another Story
Covey’s story above illustrates the power found in assumptions and biases. In another example, the perils of stubbornness and an openness to other possibilities is wonderfully illustrated:
A battleship had been at sea on its routine maneuvers under heavy weather for days. The captain, who was worried about the deteriorating weather conditions, stayed on the bridge to keep an eye on all activities.
One night, the lookout on the bridge suddenly shouted, “Captain! A light, bearing on the starboard bow.”
“Is it stationary or moving astern?” the captain asked.
The lookout replied that it was stationary. This meant the battleship was on a dangerous collision course with the other ship. The captain immediately ordered his signalman to signal to the ship: “We are on a collision course. I advise you to change course 20 degrees east.”
Back came a response from the other ship: “You change course 20 degrees west.”
Agitated by the arrogance of the response, the captain asked his signalman to shoot out another message: “I am a captain, you change course 20 degrees east.”
Back came the second response: “I am a second class seaman, you had still better change course 20 degrees west.”
The captain was furious this time! He shouted to the signalman to send back a final message: “I am a battleship. Change course 20 degrees east right now!
Back came the flashing response: “I am a lighthouse.”
The captain duly changed course.
The common thread in both stories, is that the person making judgment does not have all the information. The situations are viewed with fixed assumptions. Our perspective may be one that is flat-out false. And when we have more complete information, our perspective becomes more accurate — closer to the truth.
Final Thoughts
Self-awareness of our perspective is the key to be open to other points of view and appreciating that we may not have all the information. Self-awareness is a uniquely human endowment which allows us to examine our relationship with the world around us. Empathy can only result from self-awareness. Keeping our ego in check requires self-awareness. Refraining from kneejerk reactions requires self-awareness. Self-awareness is required to acknowledge we may not have all the facts of a situation. It helps us understand that there may be another perspective. Self awareness of perspective helps us to understand why some view:
…protests as defiance, and others as righteous.
…guns as a source of scourge and other as a tool of their birthright.
…the cup as half empty and others as half full.
I find it helpful to remember that the way a person views a situation is because it is true for them, based on their current perspective. One’s ability to consider a broader perspective about things is a wonderful thing and uniquely human attribute. It helps in seeing past those things that keep us thinking in a rigid way. It is like taking off blinders, providing more opportunity for truth. How can we do this? Through self-awareness of perspective…