Deviate: The Science of Seeing Differently

by Beau Lotto

Another key for seeing differently is not to move through the world comfortably. Whether literally or metaphorically, in one’s body or in one’s mind, we need to get dirty, to get lost, to get swallowed by the experience. This could sound clichéd, but it’s nonetheless true… and necessary to reiterate loudly, given the speed of the sprint in which much of the Western world is running toward health and safety. (We’re rushing so fast toward mitigating against short-term risk that to stand still in our society is to become relatively risky!) Don’t be a tourist of your own life, taking your assumptions with you wherever you go. Leave them in the lift at JFK or at Terminal 5 at Heathrow. And when you get to wherever you’re going, buy groceries, ask for directions in the local language, navigate an unknown transit system, try to remember how to get back to your hotel rather than referring constantly to your Google map. And through it all, listen to your emotions so you know whether you’ve traveled far enough. Only in this way will you be able to discover the mishaps and misfits that all-inclusive luxury vacations rob you of. Only then will you discover the invisible in yourself by assuming you might be wrong about your “knowledge” of things. Seek new, more generalizable assumptions through real-world engagement in concert with your delusional powers, and in doing so, you will alter the probabilities of your future reflexive responses by increasing the chances of beating the kurtot...