Shared reality and problem solving
A lot of my role as a counselor/psychotherapist/mental health worker is to invite individuals, families, couples and sometimes groups of people to envision a new reality. Sometimes we call this new reality creativity or vision. Sometimes we call it a shared reality.
Us humans have always lived in tension with each other. Frequently the possibility of even an approximate shared reality seems elusive. Religious groups, political groups, and even medical individuals and groups often offer many opposing realities. The last several decades in the United States has brought many of us technology which make it impossible to ignore the fact that our reality is one of many. One might think that knowing there are many different realities would ensure that we accepted that our particular reality is formed by many factors including:
Given all of the above, it is understandable that seemingly simple issues such as whether or not citizens in the United States should be wearing a face mask when they are in a public space become not only a matter of debate but passionate disagreement. What may seem to many to be a simple matter of current thinking of the majority of professional medical experts becomes a matter of individual rights versus the authority of business owners, local and state governments, and federal governments.
If two or more people cannot agree to make decisions based on some shared base or reality then there is little point of attempting to have what some might refer to as a rational debate. Using the same example as the requirement to wear a mask in pubic spaces: One governor has forbidden any government bodies in the state to require the wearing of masks. His argument is that such a mandate in unenforceable. Other argue that the mandate supports medical facilities, business establishments and other public places from allowing unmasked people to enter their space. Passionate words are flying. The governor and those disagreeing with him are using different and opposing decision making models based on different realities. If all were using the same reality base, I. e. current medical thinking/evidence then the debate would be a much different one.
No matter what the issue it helps to determine areas of shared reality. For example, I am sure that the all governors in the United States want to prevent themselves or their family members from being infected with covid-19. Sometimes it might take a lot of dialogue to identify a shared reality, but I am confident that if we are committed and open we will be able to do so 99.999% of the time. That base becomes the starting point for problem solving. Often that is all that is needed to move towards a larger area of shared, agreement on identifying the issue and then proceeding with a problem solving.
Written July 17, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
A lot of my role as a counselor/psychotherapist/mental health worker is to invite individuals, families, couples and sometimes groups of people to envision a new reality. Sometimes we call this new reality creativity or vision. Sometimes we call it a shared reality.
Us humans have always lived in tension with each other. Frequently the possibility of even an approximate shared reality seems elusive. Religious groups, political groups, and even medical individuals and groups often offer many opposing realities. The last several decades in the United States has brought many of us technology which make it impossible to ignore the fact that our reality is one of many. One might think that knowing there are many different realities would ensure that we accepted that our particular reality is formed by many factors including:
- Light, the angle of one’s vision, the nuances of sound wave one’s ears can process, and even the what smells and tastes one records.
- The experiences and stories stored in one’s brain.
- How a individual brain is processing incoming stimuli in
- What one expects or hopes to see or experience.
- One’s emotional, spiritual and political attachments to versions of reality and how this intersects with one’s sense of worth,
Given all of the above, it is understandable that seemingly simple issues such as whether or not citizens in the United States should be wearing a face mask when they are in a public space become not only a matter of debate but passionate disagreement. What may seem to many to be a simple matter of current thinking of the majority of professional medical experts becomes a matter of individual rights versus the authority of business owners, local and state governments, and federal governments.
If two or more people cannot agree to make decisions based on some shared base or reality then there is little point of attempting to have what some might refer to as a rational debate. Using the same example as the requirement to wear a mask in pubic spaces: One governor has forbidden any government bodies in the state to require the wearing of masks. His argument is that such a mandate in unenforceable. Other argue that the mandate supports medical facilities, business establishments and other public places from allowing unmasked people to enter their space. Passionate words are flying. The governor and those disagreeing with him are using different and opposing decision making models based on different realities. If all were using the same reality base, I. e. current medical thinking/evidence then the debate would be a much different one.
No matter what the issue it helps to determine areas of shared reality. For example, I am sure that the all governors in the United States want to prevent themselves or their family members from being infected with covid-19. Sometimes it might take a lot of dialogue to identify a shared reality, but I am confident that if we are committed and open we will be able to do so 99.999% of the time. That base becomes the starting point for problem solving. Often that is all that is needed to move towards a larger area of shared, agreement on identifying the issue and then proceeding with a problem solving.
Written July 17, 2020
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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