studio non troppo : mindful design : facilitation

The problems aren’t simply “out there”

In one particular, not commonly applied sense, it’s possible to say that no problems exist in and of themselves. Said a different way, in the absence of a context or a perspective from which it is judged, a situation is “just the way things are.”

If a bridge develops cracks and subsequently collapses, this in itself isn’t a problem. After all, the law of gravity and the other laws of nature that have to do with the spreading of cracks were working perfectly well.

If part of the reason the bridge developed cracks in the first place was that an engineer made a mistake, that in itself isn’t a problem either. Maybe the engineer was tired or nursing a cold and entered a number that seemed appropriate at the time. That’s just how the human body and mind respond on occasion when tired or ill.

Now if the collapsing bridge damaged my car, I might well insist, “this is a problem!” But it’s the addition of the perspective, in this case my perspective, that turns the situation into a “problem.”

Depending on perspective or point of view, a given situation may or may not be perceived as a problem.

We’re used to saying there wouldn’t be a problem “if things were different.” But it’s also possible to say there wouldn’t be a problem if our perspective were different, or if we looked without looking from a perspective.

If it’s not possible for us to look without looking from our perspective, maybe that’s not a problem. Maybe that’s just the way things are.