The Third Perspective // Variant Perception #34

The right perspective includes all perspectives

If I were to summarize our current culture in one word, it would be divisive. Split realities, multiple truths, and bubbling frustration have become the norm in our hyper-connected, rapid-paced world. We jump from one controversy to the next aligning ourselves for or against another group of people. Blame and name-calling follow shortly after. It’s a mudslinging brawl that activates our basic human instincts. However, there’s an alternative to this polarized way of viewing controversial topics.

I call it the third perspective.

The third perspective is my attempt to elevate how we navigate a conflicted, divisive world with equanimity. The framework states, “All perspectives exist for a valid reason, no matter how I feel about the topic.” The third perspective creates an alternative by including all perspectives. This framework holds significance in dissolving the divisiveness and negativity our culture incessantly perpetuates around controversial topics.

It starts with validating each opposing perspective, regardless of your thoughts or judgments. I used to phrase this idea as “every opinion deserves to exist,” but I think the clearer way of saying it is “the right perspective includes all perspectives.” Everybody’s unique perspective holds within it a unique intelligence. By incorporating all perspectives into a new, third perspective, we attempt to incorporate the wisdom of both, prioritizing equanimity and progress as the result.

There are always multiple or dueling points of view for or against controversial topics. The third perspective, which I’m calling the right perspective, is the one that recognizes both of those views exist for a valid reason and must be respected and integrated into a new, more whole perspective.

Climate change remains an excellent example of this phenomenon. Americans remain split 50/50 on whether climate change represents a major threat.

The public discourse reveals the animosity that bubbles up from this split opinion. The people who believe climate change is a major threat likely view the other group (the ones who are more skeptical) as morons, greedy capitalists, or conspiracy theorists. On the other side, the group who believes climate change to not be a major threat sees the opposing side as authoritarians or alarmists, always crying wolf to gain more authority and funding.

The third perspective begins by validating that both of these perspectives, the for and the against positions have validity within them, no matter how poorly they’re communicated or what emotions they trigger. Ask yourself why someone would not believe climate change is a major threat and what events led them to that conclusion. Beginning with curiosity helps us to stand in the shoes of opinions we do not understand.

Those who do not believe climate change to be a major threat might point to the multiple media headlines that have prophesized for decades a climate catastrophe that has yet to arrive. They might point to dissenting opinions or books such as Unsettled by Steve Koonin. From their perspective the threats and dangers have been exaggerated weakening their trust in the validity of the alarm.

The gold in that perspective is that the media coverage and how climate policy has been talked about, described, and executed has been ineffective. Cynicism comes from a breaking of trust. The people who do not believe climate change to be a major threat do not trust the information presented, which is a valid perspective based on their experience.

As I said, even if the reasons are poor or false, it doesn’t matter. What matters is tracing back why and how that person came to that conclusion. Tracing back how people came to their ultimate conclusion and not making them wrong allows us to extract the gold from within their perspective and remove the emotional charge from opinions contrary to our own.

Finding common ground is not a new strategy. However, we seem to have lost our desire to practice it. When controversy exists and opposing points of view emerge, the third perspective seeks the intelligence in each stance and joins them into a new perspective, resulting in equanimity—a state of mental calmness and composure in challenging situations. Removing our emotions from the equation is critical to recognizing others’ intelligence and charting a new path forward out of divisiveness.

But that’s not the majority of how we feel right now as a country. Instead, this image from a recent Pew Research study on politics (a proxy for culture) sums up how people feel.

I blame a news media captured by ideological bias, incentivized by a broken business model combined with real incomes stagnating for 50 years, for dividing our population into ideological stereotypes. Pitting one group against another to score short-term points at the expense of long-term success.

To use a word that’s often overused, it’s toxic. The dividing of realities into for and against perspectives leads to vicious blaming, name-calling, and cynicism tearing society apart. Behavior by one group “justifies” and even “necessitates” an equal and opposite reaction (it doesn’t). When culture devolves to this point, defined by name-calling, superficial moral judgments, and blanket cynicism, it creates the conditions for this cycle to repeat. Spinning us all down a drain of stagnation.

I refuse to be a part of that culture. I believe it’s dangerous to perpetuate these behaviors as, historically, they’ve led to violent collapse, revolutions, and genocides. These behaviors do not lead to more harmony, progress, or joy, values that I attempt to orient my life around.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s an allure to succumb to our base instincts. It’s why UFC is such a popular sport. It’s much more difficult and requires dedicated mental energy to recognize the intelligence in opinions we do not agree with. However, with a news media that refuses to do that work, we’re left to our own devices to create the conditions for unity, something that’s in short supply today.

That’s what I always attempt to do in this newsletter. That’s why I hope you come back each week to read. We can’t escape controversy. There’s always going to be something that causes people to disagree. However, we can control our response to controversy and how it impacts our worldview, seeking intelligence in all perspectives and including them in a new, third perspective.

Controversial topics are the battleground for the split realities, multiple truths, and intense division we see today. They’re also the most fertile ground for weaving together two opposite points of view into your third perspective.

Controversy signals a fundamental, underlying issue our society has not addressed. The most controversial topics are unanswered questions attempting to be resolved. What is happening with our climate, and what is the best way to address it? How do we balance supporting Ukraine without repeating the mistakes of the past? What does Andrew Tate’s popularity tell us about the experience of young men in our culture?

The symptom is the signal. And in our culture, we treat the symptom as the issue. Most controversies are symptoms of an unintegrated perspective, belief, or injustice happening in our society. Two sides clashing over controversial topics is part of the natural process of finding harmony and integrating two disparate perspectives.

The third perspective validates the intelligence in all sides of a controversy, creates progress, and mends division; the goal is to transcend the mud-slinging and end with a perspective that creates internal mental calmness.

Equanimity is the antidote to division. As a culture, we’re in a period of history setting the foundation for the next 50-plus years. I come back to this quote from Vladimir Lenin, which sums up this time well, “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”

We’re in a time where a single week can change the course of history. Big, structural problems in our society need to be addressed and solved. Adopting the right perspective, the third perspective, helps us create progress by integrating all perspectives while helping us live feeling more equanimity in a time of volatility.

My content each week aims to weave together divisive perspectives into third perspectives. Hopefully leaving you feeling more settled and calm while also remaining informed.

-Jared