Imagine you look out the window and everything is a blur. Objects move by so quickly they become indistinct blobs. Your eyes don't have time to focus, to pick out one object distinctly before it is gone, replaced by another. From your point of view, the world is rushing by at breakneck speed.
Now imagine standing by a train track as a train races past. Again, your eyes don't have time to focus on one object distinctly before it is gone, replaced by another. Your point of view tells you, once again, that the world is rushing by at breakneck speed.
From both points of view, your immediate environment is still as the world rushes past. Whether seated on the train or standing on the road, you don't seem to be moving, but are you? Your perspective tells you that you're still in both, but in reality in one case you're moving through the world, in the other the world is moving by you.
Our perspective doesn't always give us the whole picture.
Everything we experience, we experience from the perspective of who and where we are. Our perspective is influenced by our life experiences, our understanding of our environment, our biases, our preferences, our mood, our health, our . . . In short, my perspective of the world is my point of view, how I see things. And just like the example above, my point of view doesn't always give me the full picture.
Just think about the many conflicts going on in the world around us. From the perspective of one group, they see the situation clearly. But the group on the other side feels the same. In most cases, both groups cannot be right, and in many cases, neither are completely right. Their perspective is skewed by who and where they are.
On an individual level, the same is true. When I disagree with my wife, she is right. (Just kidding). In reality, we both think we are right. We both have reasons for believing what we believe, for wanting what we want, for saying what we say. Our perspective tells us both we are right, even if we have come to completely opposite conclusions. From my point of view, I am right, and from hers, she is.
What to do?
I don't want to write a blog on conflict resolution. That's not my forte. It'd be easier if everyone just agreed with me, and I bet most of you feel the same (the "me" being you). The problem is, I, and you, are not always right.
Gasp!
In truth, none of us see the world clearly. Paul says it this way in I Corinthians 13:12: For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. In our humanness, in our selfish mortal state, we really cannot see clearly. It is, in part, a problem of perspective.
We all wear glasses, whether rose-tinted or otherwise. We all see the world from the perspective of "me." We have no other choice. If I'm on the train, that's my perspective. If I'm standing by the tracks, that's my perspective. I can't change it. It is what it is.
What I can do is be aware of my perspective. I can know whether I am on the train or standing by the tracks. I can know if I'm seeing something a certain way because I want a certain outcome. I can know that I'm particularly quarrelsome or irritable today, that I'm biased by my past experiences, that I tend to see certain situations in a certain light. I can understand my perspective, and that will help me to interpret what I am experiencing.
Our perspective matters. It influences not only what we perceive, but how we perceive it. That's huge. Knowing why we see things the way we see them is one step closer to seeing things for how they truly are. And once we see more clearly, we can act more appropriately.
And that is worth thinking about!
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