New perspectives are not foreign to us. We have all experienced the need to create new perspectives. Usually, a traumatic event is the catalyst for us to question our old perspectives leading us to analyze the event from a different point of view, through self-reflection, thereby developing new perspectives: i.e., a mid-life crisis, an injury or illness, voluntary or forced professional change, and making New Year’s resolutions.

Perspective is the way one looks at something including ourselves. Since our perspectives are our reality, it is hard for us to acknowledge we learned our perspectives from those who influenced our upbringing and created our belief systems. We can argue that experience plays a major role in our perspectives, but our interpretation of our experiences are also predicated by our upbringing and belief systems.

If we were to strip away the biases taught us by others; how would that affect our perspectives? Would the color of our skin truly matter? Would nationality matter? Would one’s political party affiliation matter? Would one’s sex matter? Would one’s religion matter?

The very dynamic separating humanity today into its many convoluted compartments is the result of these same perspectives. It has been said humans are inherently social creatures. Yet, the only socialization we do is based on social categorization and judgments. The social groups with which we associate ourselves are rooted in commonalities: i.e., co-workers or our profession, our memberships, our religious beliefs, and our political beliefs. Each of these social groups justify themselves not by the good each does, but by the perspectives we place on the other groups viewing them as inferior to us. This is the same concept behind the development of gangs. Comparatives, judgments, and discrimination are all created by the perspectives we incorporate and create the fear and hate we all experience.

New perspectives can only occur when we identify old perspectives we wish to eliminate or change. Identifying these old perspectives comes from accepting the acquisition of new knowledge about ourselves, others, and the world, and realizing that holding on to these old perspectives limits our growth and development.

So, how do we develop new perspectives? We start by questioning ourselves and opening the door to new knowledge where we begin to look at ourselves through untainted eyes, free of the persuasions taught to us by others. Questions like: When did I learn to fear? Where did I learn to hate? Why did I learn to discriminate? Each of these takes us far outside our comfort zone because we wish to believe we are in control of ourselves, and admitting our manipulation is a bitter pill to take. This manipulation may not have been for some evil reason, it was simply what we were taught, and we use these teachings to interpret our experiences. This has led us to the us we know. If we can educate ourselves about how we have come to be, we can reduce the fear we all live with. If we can reduce the fear, we reduce hate. By reducing the hate, we reduce discrimination. If we can reduce the discrimination, we change the old perspectives we use to interpret the world around us, ending this vicious cycle.

New perspectives can only come from new knowledge, but it’s the acceptance of the need for this new knowledge that exposes our old perspectives as flawed. Understanding this need allows us to accept the knowledge; thereby, creating new perspectives, a new us, and a new world.

This article originally appeared in the Winter 2021 issue of CHOICES Magazine