Facts, Maps, and the Hubris of Allness

So. Louis A. believes the world is a wonderful, wonderful place. What about you?

“Well … yeah, some days. Other days, I would sing, ‘It’s a crappy, craaaapy world.’”

How is it that two people experiencing the same event (world) come away with opposite stories: one sings about how wonderful the world is, the other singing about its crappiness?

Not everybody sees and experiences the world as you do. Actually, that should read, “Nobody sees and experiences the world as you do.” Our siblings sound as if they were not even in the same house, much less reared by the same parents. And what about those times when our co-workers talk about their work-place experiences and we can’t help but wonder if they had frequently come to work stoned out of their minds?

“What are you talking about? That’s not what happened … I was there!”

The challenge for all of us is mistaking facts with interpretations. I see a man walking down the street that is walking slowly and has a frown on his face. These are facts. However, when I say to myself, “He has obviously had a bad day,” I am interpreting the facts. Maybe he is savoring a wonderful day and is in deep reflection. When I note that someone is laughing, that is a fact. When I say to myself that this individual is enjoying herself, I am interpreting the facts. Could it be that she is expressing nervous embarrassment?

Again: Not one of us sees the world around us as it is. We see certain facts but all those facts are filtered through our individual mindsets that are made up of our beliefs, values, and past and present experiences.

Just for starters, we never have all the facts. Never. This alone should lead us to not hold our interpretations too tightly and to remain open to other possible interpretations.

I don’t have a heavenly throne from which I can look at the world objectively. It is the human condition to look at the world through our beliefs, hierarchy of values, and past and present experiences. Not being God, the goal is ever-increasing approximations to reality. But seeing absolute-objective-reality? Uh ... no.

Furthermore, our very human tendency is to search for events and experiences that confirm what we already believe, value and feel to be factual, real and true. So, if anything runs contrary to our mindset, we will reinterpret, reframe or simply see it as the exception-that-proves-the-rule.

I think this is at the heart of Solomon's advice to seek out a multitude of counselors so as to increase the odds of our making a wise decision. Too often we only seek out those counselors whose maps are pretty much a replica of our own. "O, no, ducky, that road leads to destruction!" Maybe. Maybe not. You owe it to yourself to be brutally honest and open as to the potential un-reality of your present map ... that is, if you are truly seeking wisdom. If you are seeking to maintain your comfort zone or to not be rejected by those people whose maps you have pretty much copied road-for-road, then, by all means, hold on to your map.

Mental Maps and The Hubris of Allness
Most of you are familiar with Alfred Korzsbski’s maxim that “the map is not the territory.” So as to navigate through life, we all create mental maps. These maps reflect the individual cartographer’s beliefs, values and life-experiences. “This is how I should navigate through conflict, arrive safely at this destination, achieve that reward,” and so on. As a “realistic map” would require all facts—e.g., a roadmap would have to have every road, pot hole, traffic signal, sidewalk, cul de sac, house, building, sign, detour, dogs crossing street, etc.—the cartographer decides what is necessary for this particular map.

What happens if our map is outdated? What if our map doesn’t show that a particular road is no longer a two-way road but a one-way road? What happens if a tugboat knocked out the bridge that we plan on using, but appears to be intact on our map? Worse, what happens if we are driving in Baltimore but are using a map of D.C.?

What happened when it was “discovered” that the world was not flat? Wow. Talk about an update! What happened to those businesses that held on to agri-based maps, when others had updated to an industrial-map? What happened to those businesses that refused to update their map to include the Information Age? What happened to Newtonian scientists who refused to update their maps, noting the discoveries and insights of quantum physicists?

On an interpersonal level, what happens if the members of a management team are using different maps? How about a married couple?

“That road is a dead end.”

“Really? Wow. On my map it leads to an 8-lane highway all the way to our agreed upon destination!”

“Yikes! I don’t even have that road on my map!”

I believe that one of the most critical ingredients for effective communication and healthy relationships is the awareness of the maps we are all using. How in the world can I communicate with someone whose map significantly differs from mine, if I do not take this into account? How can we—families, spiritual communities, associations, businesses—navigate toward agreed upon destinations if we are all using maps that contradict the maps our fellow travelers are using?

I suggest that the first step toward remedying the problem of outdated or conflicting maps is to acknowledge the hubris of what Alfred Korzsbski called allness: the belief that I or any other individual knows all that needs to be known about everything. I don’t. You don’t. They don’t. This includes managers, teachers, ministers, husbands, wives, and journalists. Especially journalists.

Simply by maintaining the belief that none of us can know everything that needs to be known, I will remain open to constantly updating my map. I will also remain open to the possibility that you have some information on your map that more approximates reality than what I have on mine. In other words, your map just might be more useful than mine, in some places anyway. Of course, the same holds true for what my map can offer you. Or so I believe ...

If you are wanting to make wise decisions, as well as to become a more effective communicator then resist hubris and start factoring into your decision-making and communication strategies the presence of differing and oftentimes opposing maps being used by others. Or not. Who knows: maybe your map is the one map that perfectly reflects the Mind of God.

Copyright, Monte E Wilson, 2010