Is "Your View" Really Yours? Don't Mistake Someone Else's For Yours
Having our own view becomes increasingly essential in a world where we can get information without effort. I've written a post about the importance of having our own view.
You may say, "I already have my view. For example, I believe reading books is essential for us. As for learning, we should keep learning. I understand those because I've learned a lot of things," for example. But wait. There's one thing to be aware of; you should be careful of "your view" because it might be someone else's. You should be more careful, especially if you're a keen learner.
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| Photo by Calvin Hanson on Unsplash |
What I mean by the word "view" in this post
First, I want to clarify what I mean by the phrase view. In this post, our view is what you think after examining your knowledge and experiencing things in your life. For example, "You should sleep more because getting enough sleep is essential for your health" is a view.
Is "your view" really yours?
If "your view" is yours, you can say why you have that view. If you don't know why, "your view" is not yours. If you can't say why you have the view, you have some assumptions for no reason. For example,
Me: "What do you need to learn something?"
Alice: "Reading a lot of books."
Me: "Why do you think so?"
Alice: "Many people say so. Many successful people have a habit of reading."
Me: "Do you read a lot of books?"
Alice: "Yes!"
Me: "Do you feel that reading has helped you?"
Alice: "Hmm... yes, maybe. Why?"
Me: "I read 100 books last year, but now I can't remember much of what they wanted to say. What's the problem?"
Alice: "Hmm..."
I won't deny the importance of reading books. From the above example, I want to say that Alice assumes that she should read many books just because other people say so. She knows the importance of reading as a fact but can't tell why it's important. Probably Alice hasn't thought deeply about why. She unconsciously states a view that she believes other people have rather than expressing her own view.
Suppose Alice thinks more about why she should read many books. In that case, she may get a deeper insight into the importance of reading books or find more important things than reading books. In any case, "her view" may become her view in a true sense.
We usually don't repeat why, so we're often unaware that our view isn't ours but someone else's.
What's the problem of mistaking someone else's view for yours?
If you understand someone else's view deeply enough to explain why they state that, there's no problem. That view can also be yours. Problems arise when you take in someone else's view without much understanding. In that case, you assume someone else's view is yours.
If you assume someone else's view as your own, you'll get the following two problems.
You fail to understand the essence
When you only have a superficial understanding of what someone says, you can't understand the essence. If you fail to understand the essence of what someone says and you take in your superficial understanding as your view, bad things will happen. Your way of thinking influences what you do, so you'll do different things from what you should do.
For instance, I used to believe that input is a necessary process in learning and that I should input many things. I read many books to gain much knowledge. I read whatever books I got interested in. I also read a book about moss!
I made a mistake. Input is a necessary process, but input should come with output. Otherwise, what you input will soon get out of your brain. Although I gained a lot of information from books, I forgot most of them.
On top of that, I didn't think of output, so I used to choose what to input randomly. The book about moss was interesting, but it was hard to find any lessons from it because of my lack of knowledge. I should have read other books that directly told something important to me first.
"Your view" doesn't fit your values
There is a case where you unconsciously state a generally-believed view even about what you understand well, instead of your own view. Let's look at the following example.
Question: Who declares their own view, Carol, Dave, or Ellen?
- Carol says, "I'm a software engineer. New technologies come out every day, so I need to keep learning every day because I want to be a software engineer forever."
- Dave says, "I'm a software engineer. New technologies come out every day, so I need to keep learning every day. How exciting!"
- Ellen says, "I'm a software engineer. New technologies come out every day, so I need to keep learning every day, no matter how hard it is. I have no other choice."
What Carol says is probably her view. She wants to be a software engineer, so it's natural for her to keep learning.
What Dave says is definitely his view. Besides his understanding by experience, his emotion supports his view.
Then how about what Ellen says? As well as what Carol and Dave say, what Ellen says is based on her knowledge. So what she says stands for her view?
No. Even though Ellen says that based on her knowledge, that's not her view. Before saying that, she could also say, "I'm a software engineer. New technologies come out every day, so engineers need to keep learning every day. But I'm not sure I can do that. It'll be tough for me. Maybe I need to look for another career." Why didn't she say so? That's because she unconsciously assumed that she had no choice but to be a software engineer in the future. She took in a general view as her own.
You sometimes become like Ellen. While you declare "your view," it doesn't fit what you want to do.
Conclusion
Having our own view becomes increasingly essential in a world where we can get information without effort. Many people state many views, so those views can easily influence us. To understand the essence of things and live our life according to our values, we should always be aware of the influence of others and ask ourselves whether our view is ours in a true sense or just an unfounded assumption.
