PERSPECTIVES AND REALITY: The Quest for an Open Mind

In this post, I'm going to suggest to you a reason to keep an open mind. As humans, we have the tendency to think that the way we see the world is the only way to see the world. And as a result, our judgement of truth and value is based only on the way we see the world. The way that one sees the world is one's own perspective. No one needs a genius to tell him/her that one's perspective defines one's reality. Very soon, I'm going to make an attempt to define reality. I believe that in that attempt our eyes will be opened to something.

Now, just like the way there can be several dimensions to an object in perspective drawing, I want to suggest to you that there are many conceptual schemes or perspectives that can be used to judge what is true or what is of value. Let's take a look at these somewhat popular pictures 1 and 2.

1

Let's take a look at picture 1 first. What do you see? You probably see a young beautiful woman, covering her hair with a white cloth, wearing a black necklace and looking away. What if I challenge you that the person in that picture is actually an old woman? Now, let's see. I would like you to take your eyes off what you see, look at the picture more critically and closely and follow my lead. I see the entire face of the young woman you saw as the old woman's nose (big nose); I see her black necklace as the old woman's mouth/lips (tight lipped); the lower part of her neck as the old woman's chin/jaw and her ear as the old woman's eye. Please take another look and another look and another look. What do you see? Am I right too?

2

Now, in picture 2 you probably see a frog. I can also say that i see a horse. Did I say that? Yes! How? Just turn the picture such that the frog's face is facing down. Take a closer look and follow my lead. I see the frog's eye as the horse's nose, the frog's mouth/lips as the as the horse's mouth too, the frog's back legs as the horse's ears and finally the area of floor around the frog's four legs as the horse's mane (area of hair around a horse's neck). What do you see? Am I right too?

From the above example, you realize that you could see something that you were so sure of and could vouch that it wasn't another thing. That's exactly how perspectives are; they can seem so wrong or right when they are actually the other way round. Now, if you were able to see my view of the picture too, you will realize that another look at the above pictures gives you a view of both images in each picture at once. That's called an open mind. Remember one thing; an open mind doesn't mean compromise (there is more to this).

How's that possible?

How can we all see the same thing differently? It's very simple; we adopt perspectives by default whether we are aware of it or not. Our conceptual schemes or what we perceive as reality is shaped by what I call the three Es; our environment, our experiences, and our educational background.

Usain Bolt thinks that running the 100m in 9.63s is easy; but to other athletes, that time is almost an impossibility. Usain Bolt thinks so because he has done it in 9.58s before- that's called experience. To the average student, getting a grade B is his/her best but to the bright student, it's not even a question of getting grade A- it's the magnitude of the A that matters. This could be because of how well the bright student has studied or how wide he/she has read. If you come from a home that suggests success to you on a daily basis probably because everybody around you, like your Parents, Uncles, Aunties and Siblings, seem to be doing well at everything they do, you are likely to believe that you can also succeed easily. Another person, on the other hand, might be more inclined to failure due to his/ her environment.

There is one more thing; if we all have different perspectives then the question remains; " Aren't we all seeing from the same reality?" Well, one can say that reality means different things to different people due to their varying perspectives. I however still maintain that "reality" is a party of one which must have it's own definition. Let's take a look at this scenario:

Usain Bolt is 6'5'' tall. Two people may be arguing about his height. One may argue he is 6'2'' tall while the other may argue he is 6'4'' tall. The varying views these individuals have doesn't dispute the fact that he is 6'5'' tall. I think it's the same with the definition of "reality".

Can reality be defined?

Reality, as it is, is unknown. The length, the breadth, and depth of reality is infinite. It has no limits. It looks at how far you can think and how far you can imagine and gives you exactly that. We can say that there is a bigger and superior reality that adjusts to every person's perspective of the world. Your reality is what you say it is. Your reality, therefore, is the sub-reality of the bigger and main "reality".

To conclude, there are over 7 billion people in the world, who hail from different countries, with different cultures, and have had different experiences. So what makes you think that your perspective is the only perspective? The world doesn't evolve around only you; it's much....much bigger than you. Understand that there are many conceptual schemes or perspectives that can be used to judge what is true or what is of value. If you really want to be able to live with people, if you want to be able to understand people, and if you want to be able to influence people and change the world then this is what the experts are saying-you need to keep an open mind.

This is my perspective. What is your perspective? We at NOESES, would love to hear your thoughts.

In our next post, we are going to touch on what I believe is an essential ingredient, which I think is given less attention in most success recipes. The title is; REDEFINING THE PARAMETERS: Where Challenges Stand. The next post is not tomorrow though......lol. Before you know it, I have posted it.