Riding On Dragons

This is how I see things:

I assume that you see things as I do because it is convenient for me to do so. But maybe you don’t. For example, if you are color-blind, you certainly don’t see things the way I do. I won’t know that unless you tell me or unless our difference becomes obvious in some way. If you are color-blind, I will think that you see things differently than I do, but some will think that there is something wrong with you.

Now imagine that this is how I see things:

How might my life be different then? And imagine that I was the only one, or one of a just a few, who saw things that way. Would you think that there is something wrong with me because I see things differently than most people do? Would I think that there is something wrong with me? Would you think that there was something dangerous about me? Might I be dangerous?

I have learned a lot from people who see things differently than I do, but sometimes I think that those people are just a pain in the ass. And sometimes I think that they are dangerous; and sometimes they are.

Now imagine that the first picture is the way things truly are, and that the second is the way I see things, and that this is how you see things:

This is how it is. I see things the way I see things, and you see things the way you see things, but neither of us sees things the way that they truly are. That is fine, and it might even be great, unless one or both of us insists that the way we see things is the way they truly are.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 24th, 2010 at 9:26 am by Dick Richards and is filed under Ego At Work, Perception. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.