Home | Blog | Development | perspective

Development | perspective

Ones | Do you feel unsettled to consider that all or most of your multitude of opinions are not really facts? What if they are really just your opinions extracted from what you think are facts? And if these ideas you think are facts are not really facts, then how can you know if an opinion you hold is right or wrong? If you are willing to spend the time pondering this conundrum, perhaps your perspective will become more expansive.

Twos | Perhaps you already know that most, if not all, opinions are not actually facts, but have you thought to consider that your opinions about people are also simply opinions and may not actually be factual? What would you do if this were true – that is, your interpretations of other people and their behavior; the people you like and dislike, as well as your reasons behind these feelings and reactions; your overall understanding of what people are all about, including what drives and motivates them? What would happen if you opened your perspective to recognize there is more to everyone – positive, negative, and in-between – than you imagine?

Threes | You may believe you almost always have all your facts lined up before you apply yourself to any endeavor, but what if these facts are simply opinions? What if the ideas you have about what success looks like, what it takes to be successful, and whether or not you even enjoy these pursuits are only opinions? That might make you stop and consider, which is a good thing. What if what you want is not what you really want – that is, it is not a fact and maybe not the truth – but a notion of what you think you should want? You could change all this by opening your perspective, first by taking off your blinders – as in being a racehorse! Does a racehorse really want to run the race?

Fours | Would everything twirl and spin if you knew for sure that opinions are only opinions and not facts? If that is true (a fact!), then everything anyone says or thinks about you is not a fact; it is simply just an opinion and not necessarily true. Wouldn’t that be liberating? Can you imagine the new perspectives you would have about yourself and others?

Fives | How can you know everything if everything is really opinion and not fact? Of course, you can’t really trust opinions like you can facts, so then what can you trust to be true? And if every perspective is simply a slice of the truth, then what is true knowledge and wisdom. Surely you have pondered these ideas before. The answer lies within. You can trust the truth of being fully integrated and embodied. Or is that merely an opinion?

Sixes | You probably already know this: facts are really opinions in disguise, and truth is a function of one’s perspective. If all this is true, how do you find solidity and certainty in life? Maybe this is what is actually certain: that most things are relative, that people believe what they think – as in “Don’t bother me with the facts!” – and that few people want to take a fresh look at what is real and what is not. Think about that!

Sevens | The important thing is to take the time to really ponder the above notion of fact and truth and to care about the answers that arise within you, even if there are no answers. Everyone has a perspective that limits them, even if that perspective is one of joy and possibility. Can you see the limit of this slice of reality?

Eights | As a seeker of the truth and an imaginer that you may have a good take on the truth as a result of your gut instincts, what if truth is really relative and based on one’s own limited perspective? What is limited about your perspective? What is it you don’t feel? What do you not see? What can you not hear?

Nines | As the person of many perspectives, what if none of the perspectives you hold as possible are the truth? What if you were able to gather even more perspectives, and these altogether did not create the real truth? How does holding the perspective that all truths are equally important limit your perspective? What do you really think about the truth?

Ginger Lapid-Bogda PhD, the author of four best-selling Enneagram-business books, is a speaker, consultant, trainer, and coach. She provides certification programs for professionals around the world who want to bring the Enneagram into organizations with high-impact business applications, and is past-president of the International Enneagram Association. Visit her website: The Enneagram in Business.com. ginger@theenneagraminbusiness.com

Comments are closed.
X