“History is a museum where one can go to see the repository of the past and the charm of the olden days. It does not help to forecast the future.” --Nicholas Taleb
We remember the facts of the past that fit and confirm our existing narrative, while neglecting others. We do not remember the truth, but our reconstructed truth. In this way we are all prone to future blindness. In order to avoid these tendencies and write a new narrative, we have to see the facts as they are today.
Our reputations, deserved or not, shape how others see us and, in turn, how we respond. Members have reputations that imprison them for years in communities. Not only can the perception of members be frozen in time but so, too, can their collective contributions to the communal narrative.
Welcome the stranger into our conversation, someone who is outside of our ordinary circle and who looks at life through a different lens. Strangers can help us see things from a new perspective and open up new possibilities.
A shift in perspective is a necessary step in the transformation of consciousness and the creation of a new communal narrative. Tunnel vision, future blindness and other barriers prevent seeing beyond a narrow perspective and habitual ways of thinking.
Dunn, Ted, Graced Crossroads: Pathways to Deep Change & Transformation, CSS Publications, 2020, pp. 286-294
