What do you see in this picture?

Do you see a young woman mostly turned away, or the side profile of an old woman? It turns out… it’s both!

Scientists have found that younger people tend to see the young woman first, and older people see the older person first.

Can you think of any other situations in life when you see the exact same “information” as another person but you both draw drastically different conclusions? Think about religion, politics, parenting, eating, etc.

Often we spend lots of energy and emotion trying to convince others to see the young woman that we see. And they tell us passionately about the old woman. And both are right.

Empathy – realizing that other people can see the same set of information (facts) and draw different conclusions… and attempting to see what the other sees. This is difficult because often we can’t understand how there can be >1 truth. This “cognitive dissonance” is uncomfortable to sit with.

Arrogance – assuming that you see things the only correct way and ignoring, discounting, or scorning how others see the world.

Cognitive dissonance – the mental discomfort experienced by a person who holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values.

Arrogance destroys relationships. Empathy build bridges to people who have a different world view. Empathy can sometimes require us to accept the existence of cognitive dissonance without a resolution.

Can you accept that other people are allowed to their political, religious, and other views without agreeing with nor discounting their beliefs? Can you let the cognitive dissonance continue to exist and lay down your arguments? Does one interpretation of the same set of facts need to be the only “truth”?