Room with a View

In our everyday lives we find ourselves looking out of windows all the time. When you look out of these windows what do you see? You might see birds flying freely or you might notice people walking. But perhaps what’s more interesting is not what’s outside the window but rather the influence of that which is inside the window.

At a time where I could not find my way (professionally), I went and spoke to my adviser and his advice is still marinating my mind. I basically came to him and asked what I should do to make myself sexier to potential companies and future business. I asked if I should be taking more technical engineering classes or if I should be taking more fuzzy design classes. He basically said in his perpetual joking manner, that it didn’t really matter what I took. The most important thing was to learn how to understand the folks that actually excel in those fields. Basically if I took an engineering class, marinate on what an engineer’s experience is like and the same for management classes or art classes. Empathy is one of the keys to success.

So earlier today, I bet at some point you started out some window. Jerome Bruhner (author of “Acts of Meaning”) talked at length about how every individual interprets and interacts with the world around them through a personalized view. Our eyes allow us to see things but it’s our experience and environment that creates the windows in which each of us views the world. Perhaps that sounds obvious but when you start thinking about the implications of such subjective viewpoints, things begin to make a whole lot more sense.

Imagine a blank piece of paper in your head. Now think of a group you’re a part of…. It could be a club or a cultural group. Draw a circle somewhere on that page to represent that group. That circle encompasses all that the group considers to be truth. Could be truth about the meaning of life or something as simple as shooting a gun can result in danger. Experience within some group could lead to both ideals. Now think of another group you’re a part of. Maybe your family or your college. These circles encompass the appropriate ideals as well. So why am I having you draw? Well each one of us, stands at the middle of these circles. These concentric circles represent the very grain with which we are made. Our actions, reactions, opinions and ideals can all be traced back to events, experiences and the history we’ve had in these cultures of our lives. For example I stand at the middle of San Ramon, Stanford, Konkani and now Chicago culture. Contradictions in ideals and morals could emerge but standing in the middle, we make decisions about what our view will be like (whether we do this consciously or now).

Immigrant parents are a great example of this idea. My parents for example still hold onto ideals that they experienced when they were young folks living in India. India doesn’t even hold these ideals anymore but those circles have stayed unchanged since my parents have been in the states for so long. They stand in the middle of some circles that don’t even exist anymore but the power of those views are still long-lasting.

Now think about the actions of world leaders. If they took more time to think about one another’s concentric circles, how different would the world be? Get microscopic on it and think about our everyday lives. When your car gets broken into, you could say, “How could people do this?” or you could realize that society has created an unfair system and as a result some people in urban areas have a very different set of circles and basic needs than those in the suburbs.

But yet the beauty of the circles is that they are truly dynamic. In college, I constantly had discussions with my hardcore Catholic buddy. His argument against all other world religions was that Catholicism was the only pure path to truth. Maybe it is, but I also know that he’s a guy whose life contains an extremely large Catholic circle. He views the world through these Catholic ideals and there is nothing wrong with that. The problem emerges when these windows becomes blind to the circles of the people around them.

My argument to him was always that truth is the residue of information mining. The way Forty Niners used to sift through California river beds, truth is found when we sift through the information around us.

Many world spiritual leaders understood the idea of these circles well before Bruhner. Swami Vivekananda once spoke at the World Fair (which was ironically in Chicago!). Now I’m not even going to pretend to be well read on him but I thought this speech was phenomenal. His message was that man viewed religion as an ocean. An ocean that could not be shared among groups and an ocean that certain people had rights to, while others just didn’t understand. (wait for it… here comes the circles!). Religion, he said, in actuality was not an ocean. Religions were merely rivers that joined into the same ocean. Call that ocean truth or love or whatever you want, that’s a pretty powerful thought.

I think that ideal extends beyond religion though. We all have similar desires and goals. Maybe they have different forms and we go about getting them differently but when they’re stripped to their base fundamentals, we’re all very similar. At one point, Gandhiji wanted to spread the idea that “God is truth” only later to decide that “Truth is God.”

We all stand in the middle of many circles. It’s who we are… it’s why we act the way we do. Every action stems from previous feelings and experiences and what we believe to be the way the world works. Why limit ourselves to these circles? I would like to believe that we’re much more dynamic than that. So when you’re looking out your window tonight, realize that although the view is nice, you’re only in a duplex. If only we actively put ourselves in the circles of the people around us… we could together enjoy the view from the penthouse of Trump Towers.