My Identity and My World View

Topic Question: Which aspects of your identity influence the way you see things? Explain.

Upon reading excerpt of “On Looking” by Alexandra Horowitz, I began to see more clearly how my identity influences the way I see things and the way I see the world. Horowitz establishes two mayor points. The first one is that paying attention is the act of ignoring everything except for one particular thing. This is a very interesting thought, one that I most certainly agree with. The second point she presents is that a person’s profession influences how they see the world around them. This theory can be extrapolated to how a person’s identity, not just his or her profession, influences how they see the world around them. So, how do these two points relate? The second point says that our identity influences how we see the world, while the first point says that paying attention is ignoring everything else. Therefore, our identity creates natural filters that block out what we don’t see. They only allow the things of our interest to pass through. I found it very easy to see how my identity influences the way I see the world. I was also able to contrast my point of view from the point of view of a close friend of mine.

(Image from http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15803166-on-looking)

                I will begin by using myself as an example. My passion for cycling influences my everyday life. When I walk around, I see the streets and automatically check if they are in “ride-able” conditions. If I see a big hill, I say “wow, that’s a daunting challenge.” I also love nature and this influences my everyday life as well. When I’m out on the world, I pay close attention to the scenery. When I’m on my bike, I often stop to take pictures of the road and the landscape that lies before me. Now, as an engineering student who loves math and science, my mind is often occupied deciphering the physics and the mathematical equations of the everyday objects or situations I encounter. When I ride my bike, these are the kind of thoughts that are with me some of the time. I like it, but at the same it’s a burden because I find that I’ve unconsciously lowered my pace when I am supposed to be training and maintaining a good, challenging pace. Also, the fact that I’m studying engineering gives me an overall problem solving approach to things. When I see a problem, I see it as something that needs fixing and I look for the most efficient alternative. Aside from this, my overall introverted personality affects my everyday life as well. If I’m going to sit somewhere, I look for a quite spot, somewhere without much noise where I can have a moment for myself. If that place is near a tree or an overall natural environment, it’s even better. I also steer clear of big crowds.

                This particular characteristic provided for a good juxtaposition with my friend’s point of view. He is an extrovert and he goes in for the big crowds. He is comfortable talking with strangers and expressing his opinions, while I require a certain level of intimacy to fully show who I am.  When he sees a big crowd, he sees an opportunity to express himself. When I see a big crowd, I see and overwhelming situation that after five minutes of talking, I know I’m going to be dreading my decision of joining the crowd. Even more, this friend of mine is studying architecture and he has a latent passion for the art. When we walk around, he talks to me about all the buildings, what year they were built, what style they belong to, what year were they remodeled, whether or not he likes them, and so on. These sort of things are the ones that I filter out. After a couple of walks and talks with my friend, I can consciously see a building and say whether I like it or not. But that is as far as I go. If I’m not looking for it, I ignore it. However, he naturally observes the buildings the same way that I look for the science that governs everyday situations.

(I took this picture several months ago on a day that I met up with my friend in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. That day included one of the typical talks that I mentioned. I took this picture so as to remember the architecture of Old San Juan that was the topic of our discussion.)

                Through this juxtaposition with my close friend, I was able to more clearly determine how my identity influences the way I see the world. If not, I might have thought that everyone sees things more or less the same way I do. I was also able to identify one of the filters that my identity has created so as to pay attention to other things while ignoring the rest. These are the two mayor points presented on Alexandra Horowitz’s “On Looking.” I was able to establish my love for cycling, math, science and engineering, as well as the fact  of my introversion, as deciding factors in how I see the world around me.