Fair Witness
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the power of seeing clearly. Most of us, most of the time, muddle together our observations, beliefs, impressions and assumptions — and call it ‘the truth.’
Robert Heinlein wrote a book called Stranger in a Strange Land. In it, he invents a profession where people are trained to be absolutely impartial in their assessments, and to speak only from their direct experience, without inference or speculation. He calls these people Fair Witnesses. If you point to a distant house and ask one of Heinlein’s Fair Witnesses what color it is, he or she will say, “It appears to be painted white on this side.”
This concept is extremely valuable to me. Whenever I’m in a situation where I really need to have a clear and balanced perspective, especially one where I’m likely to have a strong emotional bias (for instance, where I really want or don’t want something to happen, or where I’m worried or nervous) — I remind myself to be a “fair witness.” I take a mental step back from the situation, and ask myself “Are you stating things as you’d like them to be, or as they really are? Are you neglecting or ignoring facts that aren’t comfortable or convenient? Are you assuming certain things aren’t important simply because you don’t want to have to factor them into your thinking?”
Making the effort to be a fair witness has often kept me from making foolish decisions, acting on limiting assumptions or being misled by fear.
The concept of the ‘fair witness’ is an amazing one. I’m a politician, so it’s also a strange one, too. I can see how applying the idea to one’s own thought/decision processes can be beneficial, but most business people and politicians would balk at passing their interactions with the world through the fair witness filter:
“Yeah, our competitors products are better built, and better priced, but we’re working hard and we’ll get there one day. Hopefully.”
“Read the small print. It matters.”
“Anti-ageing creams don’t make you live longer, or look 16.”
“These campaign promises were written by my intern, and won’t actually be met. She’s a literature major, and is studying the fictional world of Tolkein”
Very funny! I agree that always speaking as a fair witness would be hard to do, both professionally and personally (“Honey, you look awful in that shirt, and that haircut looks like it was done with a machete”).
But at least we can make the effort to ‘fair witness’ inside our own heads, and then make our decisions about how to proceed based on an accurate assessment of the current reality. (“Honey, how about this shirt instead: it really brings out your eyes…and let me give you the name of a great barber I know.”)
Warmly,
Erika
Even in heinlens work the occupation of fair witness was relegated to similar arenas as a notary public, official legal matters, real estate, investigtions etc, and the characters who were fair witnesses stepped in and out of that roll at will much like punching a time clock, while yes it would be very difficult if not impossible to be that rigid in daily life that was not the role of a fair witness. They were contracted to observe improtant events, legal transactions, etc. This was their arena and true benefit in the world he created. A truly impartial infallable witness for any event where one would be crucial for easy resolution. I wish we gad them today for all the “reality” tv shows and so called “investigative” shows at least.
Yeah, wouldn’t it be great if more journalism was in the realm of ‘fair-witnessing’? (And I love that you’re clearly a fan of the book.)
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