Four Perspectives of One Experience

On a recent trip back from Italy I was struck down by a stomach bug while I was at the airport and was sharply reminded of the four perspectives of human being ( my internal, subjective feelings, thoughts and beliefs, my external physical conditions, the environmental conditions in which I am situated and the shared experience I have with others) and how quickly a ‘physical’ ailment or discomfort can impact on the other three.

My subjective experience plummeted into how I was going to make it through not only the plane journey but the two hour delay that had just been announced. The airport itself was no longer a friendly arena beckoning me to some light Christmas shopping followed by a frothy cappuccino. No, it had now become a hostile environment with nowhere to lie down, or even comfortable to sit and no one to help in any way. And fellow passengers were now a body of people who no doubt didn’t want to be sitting anywhere near me for fear of infection. Suddenly all four perspectives came crashing down like dominoes in what was an interminable journey home to the comfort of isolation and my duvet in North London.

I was reminded of this TED talk by Jill Bolte Taylor and her – far more extreme and indeed profound – experience following a stroke. Jill is a brain research scientist who awoke one night to find herself in the middle of having a brain haemorrhage. As her physical symptoms took hold she was able to not only witness her experience but understand them in terms of her brain biology. The physical experience quickly became an experience in all 4 Perspectives.




Her subjective experience shifted dramatically between being aware of the process of having a stroke and losing that awareness, coming back and forth to the reality of her physical self. And her understanding of herself in relation to the environment as well as her interconnectedness to everyone and everything around makes this story an incredible account of how a shift in one perspective can have a deep and life changing impact on the other three.

Above all her generous, humorous and inspiring account takes the viewer from an understanding of the human brain and body on a material level to experience human being as a fully integrated I, You, We whole…raising the question of who are we and what that might mean for I, You and all of us…

Philippa