500 Words a Week - Assumptions and Biases

We’ve all heard something along the lines of “you can learn something new from anyone”, or “everyone you meet will know more about a certain topic of interest than you will”. These are both wonderful statements. However, how often do we really abide or live by them? We are too afraid of looking foolish or looking like we don’t know what we are talking about to ask a question, to seek further understanding and clarity.

Within S&C, we can be extremely quick to try and pick apart the flaws in other practices. Just look online, every-time something is posted, there is a bombardment of comments detailing how wrong the post it.

We get comfortable with our practice. Comfortable with our knowledge. Soon enough, 10 years of experience turns into 1 year of experience repeated 10 times. Nothing new gained or nothing old developed and refined.

Our comfort expands to what we read, listen to, and talk about. We don’t pay attention to the potential counter points to what we believe in.

Matthew Syed’s “Rebel Idea’s” is a wonderful book alluding to some of the potential dangers to the above and encouraging us to go beyond our horizons.

“Think how comforting it is to be surrounded by people who think in the same way, who mirror our perspectives, who confirm our prejudices. It makes us feel smarter. It validates our world view… these dangers are as ancient as mankind itself.” – Matthew Syed.

"Our modes of thought are so habitual that we scarcely notice how they filter our perception of reality. The danger arises when we overlook the fact that in most areas of life there are other people, with different ways of looking at things, who might deepen our own understanding, just as we might deepen theirs." – Matthew Syed.

The last quote is something that I’ve been thinking about recently. Especially after reading “Why Buddhism is True” by Robert Wright. Linking in with the above quote from Syed discussing how our modes of thought filter our perception of reality. Sometimes we limit ourselves. We fail to see things for what they truly are, we just project our own bias and assumptions onto everything we see. At times we need to take a step back. We need to expand the time between something we experience, see or hear and think on it more deeply before passing judgement.