The third, and final, reason to read is for perspective. We have discussed reading for pleasure and for education. Perspective, is, however, a broad category. Our discussion of perspective will be broken into multiple parts.
What is perspective?
Perspective is concerned with three things: (1) your own thoughts; (2) how you view another’s thoughts; (3) how you view the way two or more sets of ideas interact.
At its heart, perspective is how the world appears. Your background, experience, knowledge, and wisdom influence perspective.
How do reading and perspective intersect?
Reading is available as an exercise to gain knowledge, test your perspective, reexamine it for necessary revisions, and deploy a new perspective to solve problems or simply get more enjoyment out of life.
Reading also informs how you view another person’s perspective. Is their perspective based on knowledge or ignorance? Can you help them to improve their perspective or are they reluctant to change?
These are all problems reading can solve.
Connections give life meaning. Reading makes you feel like you have experienced something personal. When an idea you’ve read about appears in life you get the impression that you have experienced it before. This gives more meaning to your reading and your life.
Coincidence as a Form of Perspective
Coincidence is defined as “the occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection.” Coincidences come in many forms. They are commonly encountered in literature and in life.
In every form, you get more out of life by recognizing the connection than by ignorance.
Coincidence is interesting because to recognize the coincidence you must make a mental connection between two distinct events. The more you learn or have experienced, the more coincidences you recognize.
Fibonacci Sequence
For example, there are those that believe that the appearance of a certain series of numbers in nature constitutes a coincidence worth exploring. The number set, known as the Fibonacci sequence, comes up everywhere from the arrangement of leaves on a stem to the arrangement of a pine cone. The meaning we give to the number creates the potential for coincidence.
The recognition between two events makes you feel a renewed excitement about life. I get excited when I have made another connection because I understand I can examine it and look at it from all angles to try to weave it into my understanding of the world. Be very careful, however, not to be so carried away by the coincidence that you are blinded and cannot recognize future connections.
By way of example, if you spent your life searching for the occurrence of the Fibonacci sequence in nature you would shut yourself off from making other connections just by sheer focus. Instead, be open to connections of all kind and take joy in recognizing coincidences in life.
Paul Auster’s Use of Coincidence
Paul Auster has earned a reputation as an author that puts coincidence under a microscope. To Auster, people are so influenced by the continuity among them that they do not see the elements of coincidence, inconsistency, and contradiction in their own lives. By exploring these coincidences Auster creates contradictions and contrast in this writing and uses that idea to explore the contradictions in his own life. In other words, he uses coincidence to highlight his novels for the reader.
Auster understands we are programmed to focus on connections. We do this when reading and in life. It’s only when we stop looking that we need to worry about our ability to enjoy life.
(If you’re interested in experiencing Auster’s play with coincidence you can try his Moon Palace. In it, Auster really plays with the question, is there any such thing as coincidence? If you’re really interested, we can even read it together.)
I encourage you to recognize connections between events in your life or coincidences. The more you can either collect or create by imagination the more data you will have to rely on in answering the ultimate questions in life. Reading is a method of collecting data and exercising the imagination. The act of recognizing coincidence is an exercise in appreciation.
Coming Soon
By way of a preview, we will be talking more about perspective soon. Expect us to cover topics such as:
1. Story as perspective.
2. Community as perspective.
3. Human perspective as distinct from animal perspective.
4. World creation as perspective.
5. The perspective gained from understanding two Greek words.
6. Socialization and perspective.
7. Depression and perspective.
8. American perspective.
9. Man v. Man and perspective.
10. Home as perspective.
11. Despair.
12. Irony.
13. Expectation.
14. A Writer’s perspective.
15. Freedom.
16. Direction.
And more! So, stay tuned.
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Photos: Some rights reserved by Yogendra174 and kevin dooley.
You mention that Auster noticed coincidence & inconsistency. To me the conincidences represent consistency as in when you start down a path coincidences happen that lead to reinforcement and a sense of interconnectedness that is missing if you are not paying attention.
Auster is a master of making the coincidence apparent to the reader but the characters oblivious to it, at times. He’s fun to read for that reason.
I like your take on the idea of coincidence, though. If you’re catching the connections you know you’re on the right path? At least you’re alive enough to be paying attention.
I would argue that many times what we regard as coincidence is consequence. Of our own and other people’s actions. For every action, a reaction. Also, on an slightly unrelated tangent, it seems more and more people are unwilling to recognize their hand in their own fates, the consequences of decisions made (or even worse, not made).
I find the discussion on perspective quite interesting. It is an explanation that not many consider when trying to arrive at the meaning in any area. What is the perspective you are using to make a value judgement on any given issue? Perspective can guide or destroy any given situation with either the lack of acknowledgement, or the blind loyalty to something that you have always “heard” is the right thing to do. We think of the Founding Fathers of this country as great men and heroes. England viewed them as traitors and criminals. Where is the truth in the conversation…certainly it must be in the perspective!
The social sciences sometimes refer to this idea as bias, I think.
When you’re thinking about reading I think the less harsh term, perspective is more appropriate. Every reader brings something to the table when they read. It would be unrealistic to suggest otherwise. So, there’s that perspective that you bring to what you read.
Then, there’s also the idea that you take something from what you read into the “real world.” Hopefully we can spend some time exploring both ideas in this series of posts. I’d be interested to hear what others have to say.
Your example about the Founding Fathers is a great one because there are deep feelings on the issue.