Look at these two pictures. I captured these two moments at Luoyang (a place of great historic significance in China). The girl is sitting atop a lotus and trying to mimic the Buddha pose, just for fun. Her friends, who are not in the frame, were clicking and cheering her. The man is looking at a very old rock carving of Lord Buddha as he takes a drag and reflects (perhaps). 
This shook me, more than many of my Chinese friends – may be because the beliefs imbibed in me from childhood about paying respect to God. However if I were not aware of the concept of God, or may be not aware in the way I have been told, then this statue would not have been anything more than a relic of historical value or a beautiful creation that has been preserved. And may be I would also be sitting atop the lotus with my shoes on, doing something similar.
I do not intend to pass a value judgment on anyone here but I believe it is worthwhile looking at things from the other person’s point of view before classifying their behaviour as good bad or anything else. To me things or people do not mean anything without being founded on an underlying belief. A belief, in turn, is based on knowledge and experience. To be able to have an objective point of view about anyone, we perhaps need to make an attempt to tap into their experiences and knowledge and then things look a lot simpler to understand and relate to.
I am not well read so I do not know how many religions already say something like this, but to me this is the biggest religion.
There is no walk like trying to walk in another man’s shoes for a while..
When I step back and look at this from the consumer understanding perspective– the analogy of walking in another man’s shoes comes in very handy. When I try to fathom the knowledge and experiences of the person who I am speaking with I start looking at the world as s/he sees it.
The intersection of the way he looks at the world and the way we as consumer behaviour professionals look at the world is the place where insights opportunities and breakthroughs live.
This sure is an amazing experience!
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Meaning is empty without Belief
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5 comments:
well, Buddhism does lay a lot of stress on objectivity..a sort of 'stepping out' and then looking at our own lifestream, for starters.. applying the eight fold path to corporations would also be an interesting exercise :)
:) wo tong yi (Chinese for 'I agree')
very interesting post saurabh. reflects a truely open mind...
Thanks for your kind words Pooja.
While it's important that we may not believe in anything we don't have faith in. But remember you are not the universe and there may be lots who have faith in it. As a true consumer behaviour professional never discard any thought becaue you dont have faith in it.
Always remember that while you walk in someone else's shoes do not disregard the hurt or comfort that he may feel with it.
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