In life, it is immeasurably valuable to have the experience of more than one perspective. Of course, everyone has their very own, very personal perspective that they love to share. Because our collections of opinions and experiences are so vivid and personal to us, we will hold them in higher regard. There is an error in judgement, however, when we decide they are the only perspective we should shape our lives around. It is selfish ignorance to think that only our experiences are valuable.
We forget ourselves when we believe that our way is the only way. This path leads to insensitivity and intolerance on a grand scale. We do not learn from others if we cannot humble ourselves into seeing their perspective. If we are not learning from anything but our personal experiences, our growth as individuals as well as a community is stunted severely. We belong to a world corrupt with vincible ignorance. That is to say that the problems we face in understanding other cultures can be overcome.
What we believe on a personal level is a drop of water in the ocean of humanity. We constantly overestimate the ripple we will create in history and we live in a society that supports the idea “you are the most important person”. Well, you aren’t. We don’t have a most important person. What we have is 7 billion equally important people with equally important ways of life and ways of thinking. If you truly want to be a better person, educate yourself on your neighbours and gain perspectives.
For example, let’s say Bob has a media induced hate-on for Muslims. He has never come to know any Muslims but he blames every last one of them for the actions of a few. In his mind, some people used the Islamic faith to condone very bad things and therefore all who follow said faith are evil. Bob is ignorant. Bob never educated himself on Islam or made any attempt to understand their culture. He operates on one perspective, his own, and from his perspective the Islamic faith doesn’t look so good. If Bob were open-minded enough to hear every side of the story he could before passing judgement, Bob may find that several different perspectives would enlighten his views.
We should not be too proud of our beliefs and our opinions. In fact, we should downplay them and keep an open ear to collect the perspectives of others. We do not have to agree with something to find value in it. Bob wouldn’t have to convert to Islam in order to change his ways, he need only put the effort in to grow his knowledge base on the matter. Bob would need to empathise with people he had never met and did not understand.
The best remedy against ignorance is collecting the perspectives around you. All we have to do is listen and try our hardest to empathise even when something doesn’t make sense right out of the gate. I do not mean that we should go about absorbing others opinions as our own. We need to be able to consider others’ opinions even when they conflict with our own. There is the trick. The prideful among us cannot bear to be opposed. “If we do not agree, we’re enemies”. That is an ignorant thought as well.
Defend against blindness and look beyond yourself.
