- the art of drawing solid objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point.
- a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.
Perspective is a word I use a lot. I would almost say overuse, but I don’t think this notion can become worn out because it’s omnipresent. However, as often as I use it, I’ve never truly analyzed its meaning or multiple applications, so here we go.
The etymology of the term, perspective, begins with the Latin perspectus meaning “of sight, optical” or perspectiva, “science of optics.” This origin formulated our current definition of the word stated as number one above. Later on, a figurative meaning of the word came along in 1762 that has to do with a “mental outlook over time,” giving us our second definition of the term.
I was going to talk about this word in regards to this second definition, but now I think the first is more applicable to life. Technically, the first definition is referring to visual arts, the way drawn objects interact with the paper they’re on that give an impression of something else. Specifically, something that is 2-D appears to be 3-D because of the relationship between pencil and paper.
When it comes to this definition of perspective, it is the relationship between two things that allow us to see something else. The dark lines contrasted with the light paper present our eyes with a picture of a 3-dimensional object. Without one of the two, there would be nothing there. This shows up in all aspects of existence.
For example, form and matter. Without the existence of one, we have no reference for what the other would be. Where a misconception comes in is the belief that the two things can be independent of each other. This separates and alienates functions of life by providing us with the point of view (perspective) that nothing in this universe is connected when in fact it’s all seemingly connected. The most detrimental of these separations seems to be mind and body.
To me, the truth of the connection between mind and body becomes most obvious when considering looking at say, a leaf. The shape, color, and texture of the leaf begin and end with each other and are apparent due to light “which does not seem to fall upon objects from above but to be right inside the structure and color.
Which is of course where it is, for light is an inseparable trinity of sun, object, and eye, and the chemistry of the leaf is its color, its light” according to Alan Watts in The Joyous Cosmology. Just as the elements of the leaf are inseparable, our sight of the leaf is equally inseparable.
Keeping this in mind, doesn’t this illustrate that the world is just as much inside of our mind as it is outside? And, just like the relationship between the pencil and paper creating a perspective, this relationship of three things that allows us to see the leaf, gives rise to our inseparable connection to nature and ultimately, the universe. Although it may not seem like it, our physical bodies are just as much a part of nature as a leaf.
So, why does this matter? Well, as we know perspective affects humans very intensely. There are ways of looking at all aspects of life in certain lights that can completely alter a situation, or at least how it affects you. For example, getting rejected by someone who is obviously wrong for you. Many people would initially be upset by the mere fact that they were rejected because whether we knew they were right for us or not, being rejected is unpleasant.
However, luckily humans are rational creatures and are able to (eventually...possibly) come to the conclusion that being rejected was in fact a good thing because being with that person would not have been a good result. The shift in perspective then leads to a positive mindset about the whole situation. With the mind-body issue, our perspective of being completely separate not only from our universe, but to our own bodies has transformed man into a self-frustrating paradox.
The priority of our being has become our mind, more specifically our conscious intelligence, maybe because of its divine nature, a gift from some celestial being that gave us thought and reason? Who knows. But, once we differentiated the controlling (mind) from the controlled (body), man’s conscious will continued to struggle against his very own involuntary appetites and instincts, hence the self-frustrating paradox.
The whole of our being has systems that function entirely on their own, yet they are suppressed and ignored because conscious intelligence is able to be productive, so it appears superior.
Again, according to Watts in The Joyous Cosmology, “The culmination of a culture which ever more serves the ends of mechanical order as distinct from those of organic enjoyment, and which is bent on self-destruction against the instinct of every one of its members."
Denial of a large portion of us has warped and confused the entirety of our existence (as if it wasn’t confusing enough) and pushed us away from finding identity in nature and mankind as a whole, and towards individualized egos that we must define.
So, we spend a lifetime doing that. Going in circles trying to figure out “who we are” because it’s very difficult to accept that we don’t have that answer when it really comes down to it. The issues of the ego have erupted everywhere, so maybe I will address that in my next article.
If you made it this far into my stream of ramblings, I’ll wrap things up with this: perspective can alter the entirety of your reality.
