A Point of View Can Be a Dangerous Luxury

“A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding.”

—Marshall McLuhan, 20th Century Canadian Professor

Image of a messy drawer

Image from Unsplash by Ashim D’Silva

Most people generally prefer order to chaos. We tend to like thing organized neatly, whether it be our closets, our files, and in the case of today’s quote, our minds.

When we take in information and experiences, we like to put them into neat piles based on previous knowledge. We categorize them by varying points of view on what is right or wrong, good or bad.

When you hear those around you – or maybe even yourself – saying, “I Know,” it often means they or you have stopped listening or closed their mind to alternative insights and perspectives.

EXERCISE:

With whom and on what issues have you developed a point of view that is holding you back in either your personal or professional communities?