Perspectives: the meaning, need, and how to handle them.
What do you know of the word perspective? Yeah, that thing commonly called personal opinion? The dictionary defines this word as the choice of a single angle or point of view, from which one senses, categorizes, measures, or codifies experience. Again, perspective is defined as an individual viewpoint from which different people assess, analyze, and draw conclusions on a phenomenon. Hinging their opinions and perception about that very phenomenon on the various conclusions they draw on that it. It is worthy of note that; going by these definitions, perspective is based on a single angle, or point of view. In summary, every individual perspective on any given issue, is based on the view point, through which that individual senses, categorizes, assesses, analyzes, or codifies his/her conclusion on that issue, and formulates an opinion.
Psychological research shows that one’s perspective on life forms the basis for one’s belief system, which in turn determines and controls one's life, and lifestyle. Oprah Winfrey puts a perspective on life, thus: "If you look at what you have in life, you'll always have more. If you look at what you don't have in life, you'll never have enough." Perspective also goes on to influence how one relates to people, handles relationships, troubles, triumphs, defeats, socialization, education, religion, wealth, life, and even day-to-day activities. Of a truth, perspective indeed does all these things, for our belief systems are formed on our perspective of life and all things encompassing life; including the perspective of others about our very selves.
In recent times, psychologists have come to reveal that —asides from one’s perspective on life being a determinant of one’s life and lifestyle, the ability to have a change in perspective is a key tool to broadening one’s frame of mind, getting a well-rounded view of almost every situation, open one's eyes to new possibilities, escape the limits of our former perspectives, understand another person’s perception of reality, and hence lead a better life. They go on to emphasize the need to know that there are certainly different perspectives on every issue existing, and that being open minded —understanding others' perspectives on that issue; by looking through their point of view, is the way to grow as a people.
The common story used to buttress the existence of different perspectives, and preach that people indeed see things differently from one's view —personal view, is that of two individuals (men) standing northward and southwards of the number 9, drawn on the floor. For one person, it appears as the number 6 and for the other, it’s the number 9. Each considered his perspective to be the reality based on the position at which each observation was made. However it took them changing their sides to understand the other's perspective. In essence, every perspective can be understood, only if seen through the viewpoint of the owner. We are therefore charged to be open to different perspectives as it is a step towards good relationships with people, and societal growth and well-being.
However, in light of perspective, and understanding that perspective is a determinant of our life and lifestyle, as well as a necessity for good interpersonal relationship and societal growth, it is essential that the very nature of every perspective be considered. Given that our perspective of life is inclusive and sometimes shaped by that of others, it is imperative that even as we try to understand individual perspection on every situation by seeing through the viewpoint of the perspective's author, we should ensure that that perspective on that situation is actually factual and true. We should strive to verify if every perspective we are understanding, and building our belief system on, is actually the reality of things when observed and analyzed from all angles, and not just from the single view point at which it is looked at.
The story above is a good pointer that from a single view point, a perspective could actually be true. Nevertheless this isn't always quite the case. At times, even when looking at a perspective from its view point, the apparent realness of the perspective can be totally false. Especially when the story/situation/phenomenon on which the perspective is formed is considered in its actual context. The story of the cylinder’s shadow is a good example of this fact.
The cylinder’s shadow is a story of two individuals and the reflection of a vertically placed cylinder, on a wall. The two individuals were asked to state the nature of —the shape of, the object whose reflection they were seeing on the wall, without any visuals to the object itself. The first individual, coming across the reflection of the cylinder from the side view, saw a square shadow and stated the object was a square. The other, coming across the reflection of the cylinder from the top view, saw a circle, and categorically stated that the object was a circle. They both believed that what they saw was the reality of the object and hotly argued it between themselves, until a third who took pains to look from each other’s view, and logically analyze and combine both perspectives, mentioned that the object was neither a circle nor a square, but actually a cylinder, and they concluded based on the view point at which they each saw the cylinder’s shadow. And since they both saw different parts of the cylinder, they were quite right about the nature of the object —going by their points of view, but actually wrong in reality. For what they saw were parts of a whole, but not the whole.
Having seen that perspectives could be far from the reality, the underlying questions to ask in every given situation with diverse perspective are:
What is really the truth?
Which of these perspectives is portraying the truth, and which is an offshoot of it?
As I try to understand people’s perspective, and eventually formulate mine, am I building my belief system on true perspectives?
How can I learn to decipher the truth, and true perspectives amongst multitudes?
The answer to all these is in being neutral to perspectives. A person’s perspective might or might not be wrong —going by the viewpoint on which it is based, however it is worthy of note that this viewpoint is based on their life experiences, values, intellect, etc, and hence could fall short of reality. These days, debates concerning various topics ranging from: politics, relationships, religion, norms and values, rights, and even gender are easily come across online, with diverse opinions —that have been built on personal perspectives, being thrown around. Making it quite easy to find opinions that line up with what you believe, or opinions that question the entirety of your belief system. The key to avoid getting caught up in webs of unreal perspectives is in being like the third man in the story above.
Ensure to first look at every perspective from its view point —to really ascertain if the perspective is really true by that view point, but avoid looking at perspectives just from its view point alone. Rather, combine all available perspectives and draw a logical conclusion from each side of the story to know the reality of the story. As a perspectively neutral person, you get to see and accept all sides of every argument —all perspectives, analyze which has factual reasons to support their opinions, and then arrive at a logical conclusion on what the reality of the argument is.
Mind you, being perspectively neutral does not imply having no personal perspective, but rather it helps with building your belief systems, and maintaining good relationships with other people. As in both cases the perspective of others is necessary. It is also important to note that being perspectively neutral calls for absolute neutrality when analyzing every perspective within a debate. To derive the reality of the debate, great pains are needed to subdue the natural inclination to only entertain and consider like perspectives —perspectives similar to yours, but not unlike. For one’s life and lifestyle is based on his/her belief systems, which in turn are built on perspectives, and hence one’s perspective need to not just be real from a single view point, but be the actual reality.
