You Might Know Best — But So Does Everyone Else
Perspective is everything.
Perspectives shape our thoughts and feelings. They create the basis for our actions. They are the points of reference for everything we know to be true (or, at least, what we think we know).
Everyone holds a different perspective of any event, dispute, and person — and everyone believes their own perception to be the most correct.
You might think you know best too.
After all, you have lived through countless challenges and discovered countless solutions. You have accumulated a library of knowledge through decades of learning. You have found what you believe to be the purpose of life, the source of all happiness, and the path to perfect living.
However, these are all based on your own unique experiences — ones only accessible and appealing to you. Someone with different life circumstances might have completely different challenges, teachings, and ideals. They have been given another set of strings in life, and their entire world has been woven into a pattern incomparable to yours.
The thing is, no one else has lived your life. Therefore, no one else has the grounds — nor the motive — to claim the same perspective as you.
Consequently, other people might seem unreasonable. Stubborn. Stupid and naive and uneducated.
But to them, you are just as strange — just as close-minded and incomplete.
Because in their own limited world, your perspective has just as little ground for validity as theirs have to you.
Everything is perspective.
Like a camera, we zoom in on different things. We take notice of different things. We capture the same landscape through our own unique angles.
So, what is meaningful to you might be unimportant to another. What is valuable to you might be wasted on another. What is correct and holds evidence to you might seem incorrect to someone else — might even be disproven by their opposing view.
There might be certain facts (a tree is a tree, and one plus one makes two), but our interpretations of these observations vary wildly. You might think that cake is the best because of all the sugar, but your friends might argue that it is precisely that which makes it so bad. You might think that the current political situation ought to be changed, but your colleagues might want it to continue because it supports their values and lifestyles.
In the end, objective truth holds very little significance in discourse based in the subjective. After all, it has been thousands of years, and philosophers still argue into eternity. But each new theory is always built on past beliefs, and so each piece of wisdom can only be found by looking into other people’s perspectives.
In the end, there is an argument to be made for every perspective. There is a cause to be fought for on each flank of a war.
Every coin has more than one side, and no matter how much you keep to your favorite, the coin holds the same value.
All perspectives are in their nature incomplete — no matter how valid and righteous they might seem to the individual.
This is precisely why we must all learn to listen. Properly.
Without the ability to listen, you may never understand another person’s perspective. And without seeking to understand that point of view, you can never truly know anything.
As I commented under my article on the art of listening: “It is only by listening that we can truly understand a thing or person. But because of differences in perspective, we will never know anything for sure — and that is why we have to keep listening, because getting a small piece of the puzzle each time is the closest we will ever get to seeing the full picture.”
Indeed, things make more sense when they are seen from the other side.
A classmate’s opinions might hold value or validity if you listen to their reasonings. A stranger’s behavior might not affect you if you decide not to draw assumptions about their lives or personalities. A rival’s actions might make more sense once you understand their underlying motivations.
So, be a listener. Practice non-assumption. Seek to understand.
You might just learn that neither you nor they know best — but that a combination of your wisdoms might provide a step further on your path.
