Seeing in Four Dimensions

This was origonally a lecture I gave to highschoolers.

Most people limit themselves to one-dimensional sight. And doing so generally causes problems in relationships and communication with others. What I mean by this is that we judge too quickly and on a far too shallow basis.

Don't get me wrong, being able to judge is an importnat skill. Forming judgements on incomplete sets of data is something we do well as humans and it often helps save our lives. We draw simple snap conclusions (which are often incorrect or at the least limited in scope) which simplify our days, save us time, and even help protect us from harm.

But such oversimplification does not fit us well in the modern complex fast-paced world. Here everybody is multifaceted, everything is complex, and nothing that exists, exists in vacuo.

So back to the original point, although forming snap judgments on people, things, and scenarios is natural, it is not necessarily good. Normally when we first meet someone what we understand is simply the text of the situation. We judge only based on what we see and hear, nothing more. But we must learn to see past the text, as it is only one-dimensional. Only seeing the text is like only believing stereotypes about types of people. Yes often stereotypes start somewhere in reality, but they are oversimplified, distorted, and almost never fit the facts of the situation or people involved.

So we must use our brains to see the other dimensions. When learning how to read (something many people think they can do) you started in kindergarten with letters. Later you got words, and eventually sentences and paragraphs. Then suddenly it was stories and books. But this is only the first step of reading, the school systems take about twelve years to teach you the rest. Just knowing how to read is just looking at the text, but to understand a character, dialogue, or work, you must look at it more fully.

One must start with the the text, but must also consider the context, subtext, and intertextuality to really read to the depth that many things are written. The same is true for dealing with people.

People present text through how they look and act, but they also provide context based on the situations and locations they are currently in, they provide subtext in their mood, intonation, and gestures, and the observer must also be aware of the intertextuality of people, who they react differently to different stimuli, around different people, in different moods, and even that the observer is also subject to being affected by these things.

This is how people are understood better, this is how conflicts are more easily resolved, how misunderstandings are easily cleared up, and how modern wars are prevented and peace is preserved. There will never be perfect contentment for all people, but understanding the world in more than one dimension can only help people to better work together in it.