Fostering Diverse Perspectives

The fact is, we live in a world of very diverse perspectives. This is unchangeable. In fact, you can expect the diversity of perspectives to increase, rather than decrease as time passes given the way in which people and information now flow freely in and across borders.

It is, however, a choice as to whether you will engage with these diverse perspectives to experience greater well-being.

Why diverse perspectives?

Why is the ability to embrace diverse perspectives important to well-being? Learning, an integral part of well-being, involves stretching and growing, and being challenged by new ideas and perspectives. In other words, as we’ve explored in a previous session, curiosity and openness are paramount to well-being. 

Choosing to embrace and understand diverse perspectives expands our consciousness, and fuels the breadth of compassion that we can exercise. It enables us to receive insights that we might otherwise be immune to, and expands our ability to develop meaningful relationships. Ultimately, it is the basis for creating a just and rich society where differences are the strength rather than the divide. 

The skills to understand and be curious about diverse perspectives leads us to move beyond conflict avoidance and resolution and on to a strengths-based understanding of the ways in which we all might uniquely contribute to something greater than ourselves. Starting from a place of curiosity and empathy, rather than fear or negative beliefs about others, is essential to developing a well-being practice of embracing and adopting diverse perspectives.

Judgement can be a block to embracing diverse perspectives. In Forum, you’ll learn to become aware of and manage different kinds of judgements:

• Implicit judgements—those judgements that you might be unconsciously exercising in relation to other peoples.

• Judgements as end goals—those judgements that you are explicitly asked to make in relation to other people.

• Explicit judgements—those judgements that we have deliberately constructed and exercise in relation to other people.

As you progress in Forum, you’ll learn to set aside judgements and cultivate the willingness to be open to experiencing and learning from diverse perspectives, and adopt the means to lean into differences rather than away from them.