It is not pleasant to consider, but it’s obvious today – the United States of America – and in fact, much of the world – is savagely divided. Superheated fissures fracture across numerous political viewpoints, personal conduct, and even whether or not anything exists that can be regarded as truth, especially when one adds the word “absolute.”
We all hold a perspective. How can we know we have the most accurate one?
Here’s a thought: I recently had a conversation with a retired senior FBI agent. He talked considerably about how divided America was – politically, intellectually, even morally. He was agitated, concerned, and thoughtful about the present and the future of America.
He didn’t directly quote the scripture, but he alluded to the words of Jesus in Matthew 12:25 – noting that a nation divided against itself cannot stand.
So what does that mean for us? What can we personally do?
We shape, mold and fashion our lives according to our perceptions and our perspectives. Which perspectives are true? Which are false? Which are misleading?
One could make a case that we live today in a 21st century Rashomon effect.
The famous 1950 Japanese psychodrama movie Rashomon is considered one of the greatest movies ever made.
The movie portrays how people can sharply interpret a critical event in dramatically different ways.
In the movie, a murder takes place. But four eyewitnesses all have their own take on what happened, which all differ dramatically. Each presents subjective, alternative and contradictory versions of the same incident. One of the main takeaways is that people see things, process them, and interpret them occurring to their own backgrounds, standards and experiences.
Which one is true? Well, there’s the rub. The movie – which resembles life today – examines how different eyewitness perspectives can be.
A quick look at today’s geopolitical events sadly demonstrates how the Rashomon effect is alive and well today. Whole groups of people hold energizing but completely opposite political and societal perspectives.
Like in the movie Rashomon, people regularly create and vigorously present subjective, alternative and contradictory versions of the same incident.
With different eyewitness of big history claiming radically different perspectives, we live in the midst of a giant living Rashomon movie. It affects us deeply, whether we want it to or not.
