Perspective-taking

 “The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.”

― Robertson Davies, Tempest-Tost

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A good friend of mine said to me recently that to be able to step into another person's shoes and understand for a brief moment what he/she is going through is one of the most precious things about friendship. This reminded me of the quote from To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, where the character, Atticus Finch, articulated emphatically, "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view - until you climb inside his skin and walk around in it." 

My friend and I were in the same Literature class where this quote was used to explore the notion of perspective-taking and empathy, alongside the major themes of discrimination and racial segregation.

Many a time, we are limited by the worldview that is shaped by our own subjective experiences accumulated over time. Being unable to escape ourselves (and all that we have learnt), it is often difficult to go outside of our mental landscape and empathise with people who might be (completely) different from us.

The danger of this (often unthinking) close-mindedness is that we restrict ourselves to only a small potential of knowledge and understanding, which in turn further hinders us from being able to engage with more diverse ways of looking at the world. As we become more entrenched in our thought and behavioural patterns, the habits become harder to break. I suppose this is when stubbornness and narrow-mindedness might rear their ugly heads.

Our minds are powerful in that our perceptions, largely influenced by the ideological constructs we are exposed to and those which we imbibe, guide the way we respond to the information presented to us every day. We look at situations, circumstances, external phenomena and events through the lens that act as a protective barrier around our minds - because perhaps to have nothing to assist us would throw our thoughts into disarray. 

The almost cyclical nature of receiving information and then (re-)creating information is made even more unbridled in this time where its transmission is made more rapid with digital media and social networking platforms. We receive news much more readily through multiple sources and perhaps the exposure to different perspectives is also happening at a much faster rate; hence, with less discernment, we are likely to acquire ideas at the level of the subconscious. 

Learning to recognise that particular points of view are more often than not built into the texts we consume is key to understanding how language is used to construct these perspectives. 

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This poem, re-told by John Godfrey Saxe, reminds me to not take my own knowledge for granted. There is usually more than one way of evaluating an issue or a problem. 

The Blind Men and the Elephant

It was six men of Indostan, to learning much inclined,

who went to see the elephant (Though all of them were blind),

that each by observation, might satisfy his mind.

The first approached the elephant, and, happening to fall,

against his broad and sturdy side, at once began to bawl:

"God bless me! but the elephant, is nothing but a wall!"

The second feeling of the tusk, cried: "Ho! what have we here,

so very round and smooth and sharp? To me tis mighty clear,

this wonder of an elephant, is very like a spear!"

The third approached the animal, and, happening to take,

the squirming trunk within his hands, "I see," quoth he,

the elephant is very like a snake!"

The fourth reached out his eager hand, and felt about the knee:

"What most this wondrous beast is like, is mighty plain," quoth he;

"Tis clear enough the elephant is very like a tree."

The fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, Said; "E'en the blindest man

can tell what this resembles most; Deny the fact who can,

This marvel of an elephant, is very like a fan!"

The sixth no sooner had begun, about the beast to grope,

than, seizing on the swinging tail, that fell within his scope,

"I see," quothe he, "the elephant is very like a rope!"

And so these men of Indostan, disputed loud and long,

each in his own opinion, exceeding stiff and strong,

Though each was partly in the right, and all were in the wrong!

So, oft in theologic wars, the disputants, I ween,

tread on in utter ignorance, of what each other mean,

and prate about the elephant, not one of them has seen!