Have you ever wondered why it is that sometimes we seem stalwartly capable of making decisions and acting in perfect harmony with our intentions and desires, yet at other times it seems completely outside of nature to do so? This question gets to the heart of spiritual practice, personal growth and happiness itself; all of these are driven by the decisions we make and the states in which we exist. When our mindset and choices are aligned with our true nature and intentions things just seem to work out. Our joy in life expands and we life the life we most deeply desire to live. But when they are not, it's almost as if we can feel the dissonance; things don't feel right, they don't go right, and we recognize this. But yet, even seeing this, we can still feel powerless to turn it around. People say happiness is a choice -- and it most definitely is -- but it is not a choice we are always able to make. So how is it that we relate to things so differently from moment to moment? How is it that one day we can live exactly as we envision and on the next it doesn't even feel like the same person who was thinking those thoughts, taking those actions?
Medieval artists were not concerned about depicting their subjects accurately according to what the eye actually sees. Art at the time was primarily symbolic in nature. Since artists were more concerned with conveying religious or heraldic themes, their subjects tended to be sized according to importance, relying on overlapping to create a sense of placement. Art from this period lacks visual realism, even though much of it is very ornate and detailed. That changed towards the Renaissance when artists in Italy introduced perspective into their paintings. This discovery must have arisen from the realization that their renderings were not consistent with any sort of visual reality, leading to an exploration of the rules that described how we see the world. This concept was explored and refined in practice and in theory by Renaissance artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, who said, "Practice must always be built upon strong theory, of which perspective is the signpost and the gateway, and without perspective nothing can be done well in the matter of painting." By paying deliberate attention to perspective, artists were able to emphasize their subjects through placement, and this add greater depth and detail to their works.
So what does Renaissance art have to do with personal growth? Perspective. As much as we may like to think of ourselves as neutral observers of an objective world, everything in the realm of our experience is colored by our subjectivity. Many of use who are interested in personal growth or spiritual discovery spend much of our time trying to refine our perspective to make it more supportive of our goals. We try to identify and let go of limiting beliefs, for example. But a belief is one of the most deeply-held structures of ego. Many people have noted the difficulty of trying to bend a belief into a new shape; the ego resists in every way possible unless it is fed an equally appealing alternative. Which means an alternative that serves ego to an equal degree, in which case you've turned your personal growth into a Ponzi scheme. We make progress by shifting the resistance to another area, most likely into an area we're not giving much attention to at the moment. This is one reason that newcomers to personal growth can start out with a lot of momentum and then hit a wall as hidden or ignored resistance builds over time. Sustained growth requires that we take the problem head-on; this means addressing the root cause -- the belief or attitude that is causing the thing we want to change.
I have heard numerous people ask, coming to this realization, how to best change a belief. And I've heard at least as many different answers. But what is a belief really, that is so hard to change? It's our belief in belief. As long as we see belief as something that is fixed, as something that forms the core of our identity it's going to be an enormous undertaking to change. I prefer to think of belief in terms from the Matrix, when Neo is visiting the oracle and sees a young spoon bender who tells him, "Do not try and bend the spoon. That's impossible. Instead only try to realize the truth...There is no spoon."
Do not try and change your belief. Instead only try to realize the truth: there is no belief. Belief is simply one component of perspective. And our perspective can be seen as an aggregate of egoic reflexes. Basically the sum of the dominant assumptions, beliefs and conditioned attitudes and behaviors that form our default persona.
But that's just the default state. What we think of as our perspective is really just our default unconscious perspective -- the one we most identify with -- the one we wake up in and the one we remain in for most of our waking hours. We are perfectly capable of assuming a variety of perspectives, and in fact we don't simply act from a single default perspective all the time; in fact, our perspective is constantly shifting to accommodate the changing circumstances of our daily life. As perspective shifts, so does our ability to act and perceive in certain ways. Which is why sometimes we're more compassionate and others we're more egocentric, why sometimes our bad habits don't dare rear their ugly heads and other times they're all we see. The default unconscious perspective is the perspective we're most commonly acting from when we're not consciously governing our perspective.
Consciously Shifting Perspectives
We unconsciously adopt different perspectives at different times without ever realizing it. Do you have a different persona at work than with friends? Pay attention to yourself in various situations and you will realize that you aren't simply behaving differently, but you actually see the world differently. In some of our perspectives, ego is stronger, or stronger in different ways, and in others it may be less pronounced. But as we are, most of our unconscious perspectives are dominated by ego, and are ultimately tools of ego to keep us unconscious. But isn't it possible to consciously take a new perspective? Don't we occasionally see through our normal state in a moment of spiritual clarity or empathy?
In The Republic, Plato observes:
Thus (through perspective) every sort of confusion is revealed within us; and this is that weakness of the human mind on which the art of conjuring and of deceiving by light and shadow and other ingenious devices imposes, having an effect upon us like magic...And the arts of measuring and numbering and weighing come to the rescue of the human understanding-there is the beauty of them -- and the apparent greater or less, or more or heavier, no longer have the mastery over us, but give way before calculation and measure and weight?
What Plato is proposing is that, by shifting perspective, we establish a new frame of reference that allows us to see our confusion and our weakness that are normally obscured in a new light. Ego is constantly shifting to protect itself, and it colors our perceptions of every moment, "deceiving by light and shadow and other ingenious devices," doing everything possible to create the illusion of permanence in a world of constant flux. And it simulates this permanence by resisting internal change. But when we shift our perspective, we bring these things to device, exposing them to our full conscious faculties of change.
When we think of taking a new perspective, it is often in the context of invoking guilt in order to evoke a certain behavior. "Think of how they feel." This can be effective, but it's not what I'm advocating. This is both overly simplistic and misguided. We don't ever want to reinforce states of regressive consciousness like guilt or shame.
Modern Zen Master Genpo Roshi employs a therapeutic technique called "voice dialog" to lead his students through a number of common perspectives that we engage unconsciously. By consciously engaging these perspectives, or voices, we are able to identify what is and what is not the true self speaking. His predefined voices are specifically chosen to lead participants to a transcendent spiritual state -- the "big mind" state, but this is certainly not the only application of this technique.
If you've ever observed yourself fully-conscious in a moment of decision regarding a personal change, you may have noticed yourself teetering on the edge of two perspectives, but unable to fall into either of them based on anything other than the will to follow your change or your conditioning. By recognizing the different voices within us, we can take conscious control of that moment and choose to take, instead of a course of action, a perspective that leads to a course of action.
But a moment of decision is not the time to try to find a compatible perspective for your goals. Instead, following Plato's admonition, I propose employing the "arts of measuring and numbering and weighing," to identify and create perspectives that support our goals in the moment of decision. You have to do the work up-front so all you need in the moment of decision is awareness and the ability to shift into the right perspective.
Genpo Roshi names his perspectives, both egoic and authentic: "The Skeptic," "The Protector," "The True Self," "The Big Heart," "The Big Mind." I think this is an effective approach because it makes it easy to both identify and shift. I have an egoic perspective I call, "The Prodigy." The Prodigy thinks that he deserves automatic mastery because of his inborn talents. When the Prodigy is making decisions, they usually don't lead to growth, because that requires sustained effort. But when I am aware that I am acting as the Prodigy, I am able to consciously shift to another perspective that is more conducive to what I'm trying to learn.
I recommend that for every goal, you identify the perspective that supports that goal as well as any perspectives that sabotage it. Then you can identify the subversive perspectives and shift into the supporting perspective. It's a double shot: This will help you attain true growth in the area you've chosen as well as increasing your overall level of awareness. In a comprehensive personal growth program, you may wish to make a more comprehensive catalog of egoic and authentic perspectives that you employ and consciously practice shifting between them.
Perspective Yoga
The conscious shift is an exercise I have been experimenting with that I've found very effective. Like any exercise, the idea is to make the action easier by practicing it out of context. In this case, I like to use meditation as the context, but all it really requires is a quiet, undisturbed environment with sufficient light to see what's around you without straining. Start by relaxing and feeling yourself just as you are. If you can identify an active perspective, note it, but don't dwell on it. Now, close your eyes and let your mind drift into the perspective you want to practice. Recall how you feel in this perspective, or imagine yourself acting from this perspective. Don't try to force your mind into a new mold, just let it gradually slip as far as it will into that perspective. Then, whatever you've reached, just hold it. Pay close attention to how you feel; you want to anchor on those feelings to make it easier to re-assume this perspective later on.
Deep breathing helps here. I like to hold a perspective for five or six breaths or until I notice my mind drifting. Now, turn your head to the side and open your eyes just long enough to focus on what's in front of you. Then turn your head back to center and as you do, let go of the perspective, feel yourself returning to center, to default. You are changing your visual perspective in order to help shift your cognitive perspective. Back at center, close your eyes again and return to the desired perspective. Feel it strengthening and deepening; let the perspective draw you in and hold it. Again, open your eyes to the side and focus, and return eyes and perspective to center. Repeat a few times, then the last time you return to center, hold there and release the whole process.
This is a sort of perspective yoga. Anybody who's practiced yoga will recognize that this is like practicing mental asana. Actually, it's a very short vinyasa. A more complex version of this exercise is to practice making a difficult shift. For example, if you know a particular goal involves choosing one particular perspective over another, or if you find it's difficult to shift between two specific perspectives. Instead of returning to center, turn your head from one side to the other as you shift from one perspective to the other. Begin and end with the authentic perspective, and be very conscious about observing the egoic perspective. This will not reinforce the egoic perspective unless you assume it unconsciously.
Please note, this is not a tool for overcoming mental or emotional illness, and I do not under any circumstances recommend or condone practicing this with violent or pathological perspectives. This should not be used for treating any kind of emotional condition like depression. Please see a trained professional for help with any serious emotional or mental issues.
This can be applied to very mundane perspectives as well. In my day job I develop software, and I moonlight as an explorer and writer on spiritual and personal growth. One of the hardest things for me is to shift from writing algorithmic constructs in code to writing about the human condition in prose. By invoking a conscious shift in perspective, this transition is made much easier. I don't practice the shift out of context, but when I'm beginning one or the other, I will consciously make the shift to reinforce the state I want to be in. What I'm finding is that with practice, I can more easily simply assume the perspective I want, without shifting back and forth. It's like strengthening a muscle through repetition. Let the perspective do the heavy lifting so you can enjoy the process of personal growth and discovery. Over time, you will find that you naturally and intuitively take the perspective you need, leading to lasting growth, increased self-awareness and greater joy in life.
