We each create our own unique reality. Our own truths.
We share this reality with others in varying degrees of similarity.
But none of our realities are exactly alike.
The same “truth” will sing differently to everyone.
There will always be differences – slight and major.
I think the existence of these multiple “truths” is the core of conflicts big and small.
The practice of science has a process in place to create an accepted set of factual truths. That of peer review, hypothesis and experimentation, and the openness to question and re-question.
Religion uses a different approach – that of indoctrination, dogma, and blind belief. In extreme cases – enforcement of a single truth through fear, intimidation and violence; visited on both believers and non-believes alike.
As individuals, we probably each hold a mixture of hard-to-challenge/unchallengable beliefs, and a range of ones that we can question.
Our challenge as a species is to celebrate and leverage these differences for the common good, without destroying ourselves in the process.
On a more day-to-day business level, the ability to empathise with a different point of view, even one that is radically opposed to your own, becomes a valuable tool for conflict resolution.
