Freedom from Prejudice Exercises

Prejudice is thought held captive by a particular point of view and by a particular moment. It is a temptation very few of us can vanquish. The ease of forming opinion, perspective, attitude or conviction numbs most of us to the pain of dead thinking, feeling and willing.

As children every perception, thought, feeling or action is new and unique. A child does not have memories to fall back on or project forward. However, families and education often demand that a child adopt family and cultural prejudices. They are asked to obey and conform. Contrary opinion causes punishment and exclusion. We learn quite early in our lives that it is safe to hold prejudices and grasp the power of dominion over the the inner and outer kingdoms of our lives.

Morally we long for the freedom and responsibility to know the truth. Yet truth and prejudice deny each other. Sadly, we are so accustomed to prejudice and automatic thinking that the challenge to free our perceptions from a fixed perspective in a fixed moment feels daunting.

Rudolf Steiner said that Truth lives in the vicinity of the intersection of twelve point of view. Truth is not in the "eyes" of the beholder. Truth lies in the object beheld.

There are two demanding exercises to help you find the blessing of the twelve points of view. Place an object (a cup or flower or whatever) on a stool in the middle of a room (or go outside and find a tree in a field). Take a sketch book and a pencil, pick your first point of view and do your first sketch. Imagining this first sketch to be at 12 on the face of a clock, move to 1 and do your second sketch, then move to 2, then 3 and so on until you get back to 12. Each drawing will reveal a part of the cup, but not the whole cup. Notice how the light changes the intensity of the colors and the shadows move.

Another exercise is to draw an object in twelve different styles - like Picasso in all his different periods or twelve different colors like Andy Warhol. Even my Mac comes with Photo Booth so that I can take my picture using different effects. We want to loosen up our ways of perception. See things upside down and inside out.

Now pick an opinion you hold dear or a political leader you dislike. Write down your opinion (12 on the clock). Next write down the opposite opinion(6 on the clock). Then write down two more opinions that are midway between the first two but opposing to each other (3 & 9 on the clock). The difficulty here to to not just think the points of view, but to feel them, make them your own, as well. If you have the creative intelligence, continue to fill in the other eight opinions - not easy! This brings freedom into your thinking and feeling and definitely gets you unstuck from all temptations of prejudice. It may not change your mind, but it will make you alive in the moment of choice and discernment.

Another important benefit of these exercises is the enhanced capacity to maintain your center, your balance, your sense of selfhood when life falls into chaos. Too often we are tempted to sell our souls to the devil, in order to maintain a status quo, an identity or style of living.

Imagine knowing yourself as a being of many realities in many circumstances!