Most of us, we are sure we can see everything. We are sure we see the world exactly the way it is.
We make decisions based on what we see. And our decisions and actions take us to live the life we live.
Most of us live a life of quiet desperation. It was true at the time of Henry David Thoreau, and it is true now.
We don’t even know why we see something that isn’t there, and why we don’t see things that are there… But ultimately we clearly make decisions, act from faulty data, faulty information. Garbage in/Garbage out.
There is a discipline and coaching paradigm I studied and used about 24 years ago. It is based on axiology, the work of the Nobel Prize nominated Robert Hartman.
Axiology is the study of measuring value or quality.
It is, essentially, the science that deals with what is good and what is not. Beyond subjective judgment and independent of it.
There is a test Axiology uses to help you see what way you see the world (Value Profile). The test has 4 parameters by which a ‘value consultant’ can map out the potential for success for any individual.
One of those parameters is called ‘clarity’. In my work I call it ‘astuteness’.
We all think we are clear. But unless your life is a symphony and a victory of the human power and spirit, you are not as clear as you thought you were.
It is hard to think that it is lack of clarity that holds us back, but it is.
Clarity is the relationship between what you see, what you consider reality and reality itself. The gap can be measured. How much they overlap.
And in addition to measuring the overlap, one can measure how much detail you can tell in what you see.
I like to use an analogy from my publishing/printing background
In order to print a continuous tone, like a photograph of a face, you need to break up the continuous tone to dots. The measure is called dot per inch, DPI, which means how many DISTINCT dots you can print on a paper without the dots touching each other and therefore causing a blotch instead of a clear picture.
- Newsprint paper is porous, so the density of dots on that type of paper is maximum 75 dots per inch.
- Semi glossy magazines and brochures are printed at about 105-120 dots per inch.
- Playboy is printed at 150 dots per inch.
When you look at a newspaper picture, sometimes you are not sure if the person has a mole, a Hitler mustache or just there is a shadow or maybe a blotch of ink where you think the mustache is. Glossy brochures are better at details. Playboy is really really really good.
I use this dot per inch analogy to show that we normally see the world in a certain level of clarity (dots per inch).
- In order to have a clearer picture, one thing we can do, is to add dots where there are no dots.
- Another is to remove the blotches, that in clarity’s terms are the misconceptions: societal, familial, or personal.
A little aside here: I am talking to and about people who look in reality and attempt to make their picture of reality sharper and more accurate, so they can have a better life.
But… Some people NEVER look in reality. They look in their minds. And they compare what I say, what I teach with what is stored in their minds, and thus what they already have there trumps what I say… so what they see doesn’t have a chance to change.
These people won’t get clearer and won’t have a better life. I have clients like this… 🙁
Back to getting clearer, getting your ‘map of reality’ closer to reality:
- Adding dots is a simple learning process will help you with accuracy. (Critiquing is an important tool, though most people hate it… )
- Removing blotches is harder. This is my specialty. Distinctions of the invisible dynamics are the major tool for that. Distinctions are those invisible things that once they become visible, lots of blotches disappear. Blotches are misconceptions, imagined ways about the world and how the world should be… instead of how it is.
The most frequent giveaway is the word ‘should’. Things are never the way they should be… are they? That should is a blotch. And disappearing a blotch is not easy, but possible. And you have those all over the place!
My Friday podcast, calls with Bonnie, are all about removing blotches, adding clarity where there was none, adding distinctions.
Each call is 90 minutes, and depending on your attitude, the series of calls can take you from miserable to highly effective in six hours a month.
Each call is worth at least a hundred bucks, if you don’t listen ‘about’, but bring your own life to the call and fill out the missing dots, remove your own blotches… Most won’t… Most won’t even invest their attention in that.
Will you? We shall see
Get the Distinctions Podcast
