Sunday, July 26, 2015

Being Objective: Is it Achievable

A part of objectivity includes self-criticism and the ability to be open and flexible to new ways of thinking.
According to the dictionary: being objective means you are not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; but make judgment or decisions based on unbiased fact and an objective opinion. Intent upon or dealing with things external to the mind rather than with thoughts or feelings, as a person or a book. Being the object of perception or thought; belonging to the object of thought rather than to the thinking subject (opposed to subjective).  It’s of or relating to something that can be known, or to something that is an object or a part of an object; existing independent of thought or an observer as part of reality. As now with the abundance of information, the world has become overly complex, uncertain and ambiguous, how can one keep being objective in making fair judgment or sound decisions?  


"Objectivity" in life is a positive attitude. No one is absolutely objective. We are all formed by our lives, the education we receive; the media we follow, the people we meet, the experiences that we have, or the book we read. There is no empirical 'fact' to aim for and if there was, it would be very dull. The key is to be aware that is the case and know how your mind is framing what you're experiencing. Being objective really means you will always see the two sides of a coin, listen to the stories from different perspectives; and understand things via interdisciplinary perspectives. Objectivity is an art we try to develop in our personality, a value addition to our character by which we will be able to handle our life situations without result orientation, fear, anger, stress, worry, anxiety, etc. It is being a witness towards our own life avoiding excessive involvement and tension while we are engaged in a work or going through an experience.


Emotional objectivity is the key to understanding humanity. Understand the filters that influence one’s unconscious biases is critical to the choice you make or the life you live. We are all blinded by personal biases. Shedding the ego and the personal drive for 'THINGS' allows a person to view the rest of humanity 'from the outside.' It has nothing to do with righteousness or nobility and everything to do with the search for the truth of any given situation. Perception is sometimes a false reality. To find the truth, one must remove the “old box” shaped via the conventional wisdom or group thinking, but think more critically, independently and in an out-of-box way. To be objective, one must step out of what one is trying to understand, to zoom out in order to capture the holistic picture, otherwise your false perception based on the construct of your ego or expression of self gets in the way and clouds the view.


Absolute objectivity vs. relative objectivity: Absolute objectivity is perhaps impossible to achieve. After all, we are social beings with individual histories built upon both our own experiences and the life stories of those around us. However, relative objectivity is a continual process in which we skirt the edge of what is possible. It’s important to consciously limit the influence of our own biases. Seeing as many regrettable decisions are made in the absence of logic, it’s crucial to practice relative objectivity whenever possible. If true objectivity is the exclusion of excess tension and emotion from reasoning, consider relative objectivity the awareness of what we would like to exclude. Developing this awareness requires the humility to perpetually self-critique throughout day-to-day life. Those who stand their ground when someone brings their fight to them are already at peace.


Objectivity is of great importance in different aspects of life. It is important to be able to be objective and gain a different view in order to develop and have a better understanding of certain topics or problems that may occur. A part of objectivity includes self-criticism and the ability to be open and flexible to new ways of thinking. But, past experiences in life are there for a reason and help us learn from past mistakes or success. Relative objectivity is to be able to master and very useful in one’s professional life and career development but also private life in general. Being objective is the next step in our human advancement and is very simple but not easy to accomplish.



0 comments:

Post a Comment