Seeing from a new perspective

Today I returned to one of my favorite nearby trails for some exercise. I mentioned Dry Canyon in a previous reminisence - it's a trail I've hiked countless times. But I had a sudden idea. Instead of taking the trail up the main canyon, like I normally do, I cut off up a steep hillside on a smaller trail I've noticed before but never taken. It seemed to have had some traffic, and I did see an occasional human footprint; but before long I was just exploring a maze of game trails as the steep climb leveled out on top of a ridge. It was fun to be in a new area, very rarely visited by hikers. In fact, I came across a dozen or more deer who were, I assumed, avoiding the human incursion into the more popular areas (I hope I didn't ruin it for them).

My primary motivation was to see Dry Canyon from a new perspective, one I've never seen before. I was high above the canyon on the ridge to the south. It was fascinating to see the trail and the rock formations from there, and the hikers passing down below oblivious to my presence. Though the trail is so familiar to me, I saw some aspects of it that I had not noticed previously, and now am eager to return and see it from "ground level" again.

It's a good exercise to see things from a different perspective occasionally. This applies to a lot of areas in life. We become very used to our normal approach to things, our normal way of thinking, our normal associates or organizations or philosophies.

A great example of this is in the area of politics. Many times, we either made a choice at one point in our life, or else were raised in a certain mindset and always assumed that was the "right" way. That's how I was. I only started to wonder about it at one point, when I realized there were good, upright, intelligent people in the "other" party that I had assumed was so obviously wrong. How could someone have ended up so "misguided" but yet seem, otherwise, so intelligent? It forced me to reconsider some preconceptions. I eventually realized that there are some very good principles in both of the major political parties, and some that I disagreed with in each of them. It was mind-opening!

It's a powerful exercise to try to ignore your assumptions and prejudices and consider two alternatives on pure merit. Is it possible there are philosophies or approaches to issues in the "other guys" that might make sense to me, if I give them a fair consideration? The challenge is, it's terribly hard to suppress our preconceptions to honestly do that kind of evaluation. But we get better as we practice it!

One example I admire is something I have seen one of my Facebook friends,

Tom Withers

, doing. He initially wrote, "I have decided that, for the next little while, I am going to post something every day with the hashtag #LovetheDifference where I write something I admire and respect about someone I disagree with personally or politically." He is forcing himself to sincerely and realistically find the good in those he might have otherwise despised. What a fascinating exercise!

I think in order to truly understand a belief we hold, it's important that we seriously and carefully examine them critically now and then, including comparing the alternatives. This applies to politics, to religion, to our approach to life. If something is truly worthwhile and valuable to us, this kind of sincere examination will only validate and strengthen our feelings about it. But now and then, we may realize that "our ladder is leaning against the wrong wall."

I #GiveThanks for the blessing of a new perspective!