The Value of Different Perspectives
Three Point Essay #35 | Your Perception of the World isn't the Reality of the World
Here’s a three-pointer to open your mind.
Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.
Marcus Aurelius
Question Everything
“What if every single thing I believe is completely wrong?”
This is a thought I had a few summers ago.
It’s a default setting of the human brain to assume we’ve made perfect sense of everything. And that the things we believe are right.
But reality is too complicated to make perfect sense of. And we are often wrong.
Limited Brain Bandwidth
It’s the height of foolishness to believe that in your short life, you can fully comprehend the complexity of human science, technology, culture, and religious/economic systems.
That you, a single consciousness, out of billions and billions, has constructed a perfect representation of reality in your mind.
The way you perceive and interpret the world is not how the world actually is.
No one sees it with 100% clarity.
But with critical thinking and diverse perspectives, you can get closer to seeing reality.
The best way to do this is by reading. And listening. To people from different places. To people you disagree with.
The last thing you want is to have a rigid ideology about the world. Those are people with the least-accurate view of the world. Unable to consider alternative ideas, their minds become a prison.
Gaining Perspectives Makes Life Richer
I have the perspective of a 21-year old American college student of Irish and British descent who believes in capitalism & democracy, speaks English and Spanish, and loves sports and going out.
My interpretation of the world is completely different from a 30 year old woman who works for the Chinese government, believes in communism, speaks Mandarin and Korean, and enjoys cooking & science experiments.
Or a 65 year old man from France who owns a luxury clothing business, wants to reinstitute the monarchy, speaks French & Arabic, and enjoys painting and politics.
The differences are obvious. But what’s not obvious is the value in really thinking about how they think.
Considering life from different perspectives helps you paint a deeper picture of reality. You don’t have to agree with other perspectives, and often you won’t. But if you want your experience of this world to be rich, you should at-least try to understand them.
Everyone’s perspective is inherently narrow. An open mind is the key to broadening it.
(This is another reason reading is like a form of magic. You inhibit the mind of someone who lived hundreds or thousands of years ago. You gain their perspective.)
Let me know how many pictures you sell.