It’s not always so

This blog is titled… You Make It Up! Because I know that to be true… about EVERYTHING! And I suspect that there are many who suspect this may be true but are simply afraid to say it out loud.

You see, we simply can’t get beyond our own perspective. Which isn’t to say our perspective doesn’t shift and change. Yet the truth is, your perspective, based on your beliefs, experiences and things learned by you from your experiences… is the lens through which you interpret the world around you. So… you’re making up what everything “means” all the time!

This doesn’t put you at blame for or guilty of ANYTHING in your life… it does remind you that you have the power to create your reality… even re-create your past… if you are willing to broaden your perspective and open your mind. Yes… you’ll still be ‘making it up’… yet if it’s possible that what we experience is a result of what we’re making up… wouldn’t it make sense to make up things that bring us more satisfying experiences?

And when we realize that the statement “It’s not always so” might serve us when it comes to the assumptions and choices we make about what is going on… we can start trusting that statement more and more… to help us keep open for new perspectives that could serve to expand ours. Here’s a little story I want to share that demonstrates how seeing things from a new perspective… changes our experience.

The following is a true story told by Frank Koch, which appeared in an issue of Proceedings, the magazine of the United States Naval Institute. It dramatically illustrates how one simple, yet profound new bit of information completely changed a very big paradigm 180 degrees in an instant.

As background, let me explain that at the time of this story, a battleship was THE most formidable navel war vessel in the world. It was three football fields long (longer than most skyscrapers are tall), weighed 50,000 tons and carried a crew of 1500 sailors. It also had nine 16″ guns that could fire a one-ton explosive “bullet” and blow up a target as small as a tank 23 miles away.

Two battleships assigned to the training squadron had been at sea on maneuvers in heavy weather for several days. Koch was serving on the lead battleship and was standing watch on the bridge as night fell. He recounts his experience.

“The visibility was extremely poor with patchy fog, so the captain remained on the bridge, keeping an eye on our navigation activities.”

“Shortly after dark, the lookout on the wing of the bridge reported, ‘Light, bearing on the starboard bow!’

“The captain called out, ‘Is it steady or moving astern?’

“The lookout replied, ‘Steady, captain,’ which meant that we were on a collision course with that source of light.

“The captain then called to the signalman, ‘Signal that ship: We are on a collision course… advise you change course 20 degrees.’

“Back came the signal from the other ship. ‘Advisable for you to change course 20 degrees!’

“The captain barked, ‘Send, I’m a captain… change course 20 degrees immediately.’

“‘I’m a seaman second-class,’ came the reply. ‘You had better change course 20 degrees!’”

“By this time, the captain was furious. He spat out, ‘Send, I am a battleship! Change course 20 degrees.’

“Back came the signal from the flashing light…’

“I am a lighthouse…”

All it takes to change a paradigm— or a belief— even the most firmly entrenched and universally agreed upon, is one new piece of “compelling” information.