A kaleidoscope of views

I have been noticing recently how views divide or unite us. Take something as simple as wanting in and out of the EU, or even wanting your football team to win. People can get so attached to their views that they will even go as far as to hate people who have the opposite view, or at the least think that they are ignorant. It is so interesting. The mind creates a huge generalisation of people who hold the same view or who don’t ( good/bad/stupid etc etc). And people get lumped together under this heading that flattens who they are and doesn’t take into account that they are so much more than a single view. And the amount of stuff that they agree on and have in common is probably vast compared to what they disagree on. Views can split up families. Wars have happened over views.  And I see it happens to me. When I have a disagreement about a point of view with my partner it can seem huge at the time. I find myself determined to try to change his point of view, and boy he is good at resisting.

Basically I have already made several fundamental mistakes when this happens. That there is an external independent right and a wrong. And that my interpretation of the situation is correct. 
There is what is right and wrong for me - and it’s made up. It might be based on important values. But they are my values, not necessarily someone else’s. And even if they are, the interpretation of those values will be different for everybody. We make most of our mistakes by interpreting things to mean something that they don’t. He did this, she said that. It means this. And boy do we suffer for it.

“People are not disturbed by things, but by the views they take of them.”

~ Epictetus
  
Can we value each other’s uniqueness? Can we respect and be curious about each other’s views? And please can we not take ourselves so seriously? 

And if you think, but yes in this situation I am totally right, you may want to reflect that every day we receive propaganda. We think people in countries where the internet and freedom of speech are restricted receive propaganda and they don't know the truth, but what is really interesting is that when you read different sorts of papers in the UK they all have different sorts of spin. And there are different people in the UK who say well this one is clearly the truth. And I realised that I totally do this too! I choose the one I agree with most and that one's right. I surround myself with people with similar views. And if I pick up a different paper I can see that it isn’t “true”. And yet they all choose what facts to report on and how to say it. So our idea of what the world is, is totally skewed, everyone lives in a different world coloured by their own truths. How fascinating! 

“For things to reveal themselves to us, we need to be ready to abandon our views about them.”

― Thích Nhất Hạnh

So the best practice for this is playfulness. It builds flexibility in the way that you look. Views are like a kaleidoscope they give different pictures of the world as you turn the end. As you look through the world with different lenses (views) you see things differently. So play with your views and see what it creates. Listen to people with different views without needing to agree or disagree. You can see the world through another’s eyes and feel compassion for the suffering it brings them. And as you do this you will start to see that your own reality, the views you hold that bring you suffering, is just as illusory as the fragment of the kaleidoscope. Shift it a tiny bit and everything changes. Let go of it completely and you find boundless peace. Then choose the views that bring you the most beauty, happiness and meaning in your life. And remember they are still illlusory. And as much as you can meditate and rest in no view at all.

“In the sky, there is no distinction between east and west; people create distinctions out of their minds and then believe them to be true”

~ Buddha