Blog #8--Perspectives and "The Little Prince"

Blog #8--Perspectives and "The Little Prince," by Jack Tuttle http://dreamtime3.wix.com/jacktuttlebook

In his classic book “The Little Prince,” Antoine de Saint-Exupery stresses how our perspectives on the world around us vary widely from person to person. For instance, he describes asking people to identify a drawing of a snake with a large bulge in the middle. Some said it looked like a hat or a wide variety of other possibilities, but none guessed the narrator was actually drawing a snake after it had swallowed an elephant. Obviously, even baby elephants are too large for most snakes to swallow. The artist’s perspective was unique and had value to him even if no one else saw it the same way.

The young prince in the story lived on a tiny asteroid, where he shared a life with a single red rose. He fed, watered and loved that rose daily, considering it unique in the universe. When he decided to travel to other planets to learn more about life, he encountered a large patch of red roses. He was saddened to learn his rose was just one of many roses in the universe.

We all have unique perspectives on the world. No two people stand in exactly the same spot at the same time with the exact same background, level of understanding and awareness. What may seem great for some can seem terrible for others. What may seem wrong most of the time may be right once in a great while. Our levels of confidence and fear fluctuate daily, and each change in confidence level we experience changes our previous perspective.

When a great athlete is most focused, his mind appears to slow down time sufficiently to win the big game. A football wide receiver or baseball hitter with great confidence might actually see the writing on the balls thrown toward him, while it’s a blur for others. We don’t actually slow time, which is constant. Rather, our minds speed up to expand our awareness relative to those around us, giving us an advantage. There tends to be a direct relationship between our confidence level and ability to see more expansively.

Conversely, those who lack confidence or are more fearful tend to be less focused and thus more prone to mistakes and losses. In fact, extreme fear distorts our perspectives to the point we might believe the opposite of the reality of a given situation. Advertisers, politicians, governments and even some religious leaders take advantage of people’s fear level to manipulate them for selfish purposes since the ego tends to believe lies when highly fearful.

All of us have a range of perspectives, depending on circumstances. Many of us associate with those of like mind, so we believe our collective perspectives are accurate because they are shared. But even groups that appear homogeneous contain individual differences.

The real question is, who is right and who is wrong when perspectives vary? We want to be right, so we are quick to judge negatively those who disagree with us. But can any of us be 100% correct when our own perspectives vary moment to moment? How can we judge others poorly just because their views differ from our own? Maybe they have reasons for their behaviors that are as valid as ours, based on how they see themselves relative to their world at that moment.

I believe the Native American notion of not judging someone until we’ve walked a mile in his or her moccasins is a valid one. We can understand ourselves and others better when we reconcile the paradoxical nature of this world.

In the case of the little prince, he was guided to understand that his rose was simultaneously one of millions and unique to him. It was a special friend for the prince, and knowing it was not the only one in the universe didn’t change that.

As with all other things, Love is the answer. It allows us to accept perspective variations within ourselves and others without judgment.

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