Equality and community through enhanced perspective

This week's blog post is from SWIG member Manny Storey.

Of the many issues feminists might find important, I find particularly interesting the role of biases and categorical judgments in daily life. We tend to construct notions about how or who other people are and what their behavior means. Sometimes our judgments are critical and in other moments perhaps we become mesmerized or appreciative – either way, we lean toward or recoil from certain impressions. Some scholars would suggest that these tendencies are natural, and reflect various components of our psychological nature. Unfortunately, our notions about others can often result in misleading assumptions with adverse consequences, and in some cases cruelty and discrimination. I am going to suggest that the progress of humanity toward true social equity and justice will require a thorough examination of the thinking which underlies our assumptions.

Let’s consider two very different types of daily activity. The first is that of unhindered observation. For instance, a graduate student attends a lecture by a visiting professor whose research domain is quite unknown to the student. Because the student is unfamiliar with the subject, the content of the lecture requires careful listening for comprehension. Through the course of the talk, the student becomes very interested, and at the moment that the speaker reveals the key breakthrough accomplished through the study, the student is captivated. This is to say, the student becomes a wholehearted participant in the action of learning through sensory experience and forgets all preconceived notions. Time and experience are then synched directly through acute, real-time observation.

In contrast, let's imagine a corporation hosting an annual staff party at a local sports bar. Some employees are more inclined than others to go, some more or less extroverted. A certain supervisor gets a little bit boisterous after a few drinks, yet still in good humor, and those at the table are entertained. Realizing the attention, this person gets carried away, and forgets to observe that others are unable to participate in the interaction as such. A little observation would have revealed this, but instead another process happened: momentary blindness and deafness were induced by a failure to be attentive in real-time. In this case, it would seem that nothing terrible happened, yet it did: instead of observing the others at the table as living beings, the others became like objects in the view of that person, as a haze of drunken delusion set it.

By examining these two types of activity, there is quite a distinction. Perhaps we can apply this difference in approach to the way we view others – particularly with issues like gender bias and interpersonal conflict. It is all too easy construct mental models about other people (especially what they should be doing) which serve our own interests. These are subtle and often go unnoticed, but we need to really pay attention to them. We might like to think that we really have a solid idea of who people are, yet I suspect that we know very little about even our closest friends. Seeing through lenses of our own perspective really hinders our clarity, and we need to be responsive to the potentiality of the circumstances which arise in order act upon our values.

How do we give other people the space and freedom to truly be themselves? How do we abolish our own biases and really begin to learn about others as completely unique individuals? In what way can we relate with one another so that genuine humanity and community are expressed? Although there are no simple answers, it would be healthy to consider these type of questions more often.

It seems to me that a path toward true equality will only come through recognition of how little we actually know, and a keen desire to observe. To quote philosopher Alan Watts:

“You are the big bang, the original force of the universe, coming on as whoever you are. When I meet you, I see not just what you define yourself as … I see every one of you as the primordial energy of the universe coming on at me in this particular way. I know I'm that, too. But we've learned to define ourselves as separate from it. ” 
― Alan Wilson Watts

This view reflects the kind of observation I am referring to: one that values people as inherently complex, unique, wonderful, and mysterious expressions of nature. Thus, perhaps we can begin to dissolve the power struggles that have caused so much suffering for humanity, and to build closer relationships based on a deep sense of respect. If we can wake up and really listen to and see others with clarity, perhaps our own lives will even become more vivid and meaningful.