Beyond boundaries: Five advantages of multidimensional thinking
Understanding emerges from the interaction of diverse perspectives.
You’re intelligent and capable. Your interests, knowledge and experiences are diverse and multifaceted. If there was a simple answer or an easily adoptable solution to an issue, you’d probably already know about it.
Like me, you´re curious. You've invested a lot of time in making sense of yourself and the world around you, listening to podcasts, reading diverse news reports, and reflecting on ideas from insightful blogs. The inherent joy from learning and discovery are evident to you. Pursuing knowledge and deeper understanding adds vibrancy to life; it fosters personal growth, encourages novelty and expands horizons.
Yet, as we delve deeper into a subject, the more nuanced, complex, and, at times, perplexing it can become. The more we learn, the more we are aware that there’s more to discover. As Aristotle is believed to have said: "The more you know, the more you realize you don't know.”
The challenge for all of us who seek a deeper and broader understanding is this: How do we navigate the ambiguity of information, the noise of opinions, and competing interests, and trust that the conclusions we draw are the best or right ones? Moreover, how confident can we be in our decisions based on this uncertain information?
One solution is to interact with diverse perspectives to build multidimensional understanding.
There's an old Indian parable that beautifully illustrates the significance of embracing multiple perspectives to comprehend the unknown. In this tale, six blind men chance upon an elephant, a creature unfamiliar to each of them. As they touch different parts of the animal, they assert their understanding based on their limited perspective. One touches the trunk, declaring, 'It's a snake.' Another, feeling the tusk, insists it's a spear, and so forth. Clinging firmly to the correctness of their direct but partial experiences offers no insight; it's limited—independently, the blind men cannot attain a meaningful understanding of the elephant.
Multidimensional thinking overcomes such tunnel vision. It's akin to unraveling a complex puzzle. Instead of focusing on just one piece, as our blind men did above, you examine numerous pieces from different points of view. Each facet provides unique information, and by amalgamating them, you gain a clearer picture of the entire puzzle.
Professor of Economics Alan Kirman presents a compelling real-world case for the need to include multidimensional thinking to comprehend macroeconomic trends and patterns. He thinks that the study of economic systems is currently in a state of inertia, oversimplifying complex real-world dynamics and unable to predict future possibilities reliably.
Kirman advocates for a transdisciplinary approach that integrates insights from psychology, sociology, biology, and physics directly into the study of economics. By breaking down artificial boundaries and leveraging the collective knowledge of multiple disciplines, Kirman envisions a more robust and reliable framework that better captures the interconnected and dynamic nature of modern economies.
Away from the academy and directly in our lives, multidimensional thinking ensures that we consider many different angles and aspects to understand something well. It helps us see the whole story, the larger systems at play, not just a tiny part of it we are fixated on.
Here are five powerful advantages to thinking multidimensionally.
Benefit 1: Multidimensional thinking unmasks bias and all or nothing thinking
Multidimensional thinking builds resistance to misinformation.
In our information-saturated digital world, where everyone has something to say, healthy skepticism isn't a bad thing. Disinformation on social media has become an effective destabilization and propaganda tool. Retractions due to the unreliability of information, even in leading science journals, have become more pronounced. Independently assessing the credibility of information you encounter is becoming increasingly valuable. Unsurprisingly, thinking critically when exposed to new information is a crucial skill in future-focused education.
Multidimensional thinking promotes such a critical lens. It helps distinguish credible information from information that is unreliable. For example, when a person claims they've got the absolute answer without acknowledging the shades of gray, that sets off alarms. Similarly, multidimensional thinking insists on knowing the evidence behind an impassioned statement. It pushes us to not only question the content but to be curious about the person delivering it. What's their angle? What's their motivation?
Seeking out different interpretations of the evidence is foundational to multidimensional understanding. Considering a variety of perspectives helps expose the gaps, the limitations and the misunderstandings and through this establish the credibility of the information.
Multidimensional thinking encourages us to dive into the layers, peel back the complexities, and embrace the richness of different viewpoints. A range of perspectives necessitates no simple answers that will work for everyone, in every context.
Benefit 2: Multidimensional thinking helps us move beyond knowledge silos
You may now be wondering if it's really necessary to invest the time and energy to consider multiple points of view across various fields of knowledge and experience. The task sounds daunting and time-consuming. Maybe it's better just to defer to the experts?
While it´s tempting to rely on the conclusions drawn by qualified experts in books, journals, and articles, the challenge is that these conclusions are geared to one line of argument, often in contrast to those offered by similarly qualified experts.
Multidimensional thinking urges caution. There's no certainty that the conclusion drawn from one person, think tank, particular research perspective, cultural lens or time period, resonates in other fields of understanding or is relevant to different contexts.
Take Sigmund Freud, for example, the Austrian pioneer of psychoanalysis. His invaluable efforts to understand people’s unconscious motivations provided new ways of thinking about human nature, but his conclusions are are controversial. Even at his time of writing, other fields of knowledge offered alternative understandings. Since his death, his theories have undergone significant refinement, contestation, recontextualisation and reinterpretation.
Even if you knew everything there was to know about Freud's theories or more contemporary thinkers such as Noam Chomsky, their viewpoint is always only one among many others. Ultimately, a richer understanding is most likely found in the interactions between competing theories and perspectives.
In the 1970s, the anthropologist Ernest Becker alerted us to a vital problem in relying on a single prominent thinker's explanations. He states:
“Usually in order to turn out a piece of work, the author has to exaggerate the emphasis of it, to oppose it in a forcefully competitive way against other versions of truth, and he gets carried away with his own exaggeration, as his distinctive image is built on it.”
Becker means that while most influential ideas contain some valuable insight, they are often developed by placing them in opposition to other points of view.
The aim is rarely to synthesize knowledge—but to emphasize how unique and powerful this singular ‘truth’ is. Careers often depend on stating a point the loudest.
Becker believes that the competition and endless presentation of ideas have meant that “knowledge is in a state of useless overproduction.” He couldn't more clearly capture how many of us feel about information sharing on contemporary social media.
Becker proposes that a better approach is “not to oppose and to demolish opposing views but to include them in a larger theoretical structure.” His aim to harmonize human thinking champions multidimensional understanding. Crucially multidimensional understanding doesn’t mean that an individual perspective is wrong, rather that different points of view become strengthened and meaningful when they interact and develop in tandem with other perspectives.
Benefit 3: Multidimensional thinking fosters empathy and celebrates diverse perspectives
Involving diverse perspectives in dialogue builds empathy and nurtures shared understanding.
Let's stay with Beckers' insights a bit longer. He believed that by recognising the narrow but inherent worth of individual perspectives, we approach understanding with an awareness of the value embedded in each contribution and the context, experience, or belief underpinning it. Multidimensional thinking reminds us of commonalities in human experiences; our shared challenges, values and ambitions. It helps build empathy rather than division and promotes a compassionate mindset that is inclusive of diversity and values kindness and tolerance.
By exploring the intricacies of different perspectives, we override superficial understandings and actively involve ourselves in contemplating the issue in its entirety. Just as we appreciate a story more when we understand various characters' points of view, considering individual motivations enables us to better grasp the different ways we can approach and make sense of something. It's comparable to having a more vibrant palette of colors to paint a nuanced and realistic picture.
The deliberate effort to appreciate varied perspectives fosters genuine connection and dialogue within the intricacies of individual narratives. It can build lasting empathy between diverse people. Consequently, the embrace of multidimensional perspectives not only expands our capacity for empathy but also cultivates a sincere admiration for the multifaceted beauty inherent in our collective differences.
Benefit 4: Multidimensional thinking promotes reflection on our beliefs and assumptions
Steven West, the host of the podcast Philosophize This! presents another illuminating aspect of multidimensional thinking. He thinks that when we approach understanding via our shared human experiences and collective needs, we can be more objective about our own peculiar beliefs and assumptions. By doing so, we reflect on where and why these may have arisen, and why we feel so threatened when they are questioned. We can become more perceptive about effects they may be having on other people, particularly when these are harmful:
“Maybe [it] can help us recognize where the desire to dehumanize or silence another group is actually coming from… Maybe we can learn to differentiate which of these illusions we cling to are life-affirming, which ones serve others, which ones are not, in fact, a direct threat to our existence, and which of those promote the freedom, dignity, and hope of other people. And then, on the other hand, which of these illusions are just about us being immoral?”
Multidimensional thinking prompts us to critically examine our own assumptions and biases, recognizing that our perceptions are one among a multitude. By insisting that we cooperate with people with other ways of knowing, we become less interested in separating our ideas from others and more invested in considering how they interact. As Wayne Dyer stated, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
Embracing multidimensionality encourages continual self-reflection. Through this reflection, our beliefs and the ideas we propose contribute to a more inclusive and equitable understanding of the world, which works for–not against–our collective betterment.
Benefit 5: Multidimensional thinking promotes creative innovation and sustainable decision-making
When we rely solely on our existing knowledge and known scenarios, our understanding and the decisions we make from this may be myopic. Multidimensional thinking can unleash creativity, innovation and sustainable decision-making by steering away from tired and linear thought patterns. It challenges us to broaden our scope and apply many perspectives to enrich our understanding. The outcome of this process is more informed and more robust decision-making.
Consider urban planning as an example. A linear approach might prioritize economic growth and infrastructure development without considering other broader impacts. It may fail to accommodate future housing, work and transport needs and innovations. In contrast, a multidimensional perspective would weigh not just economic factors but also consider the well-being of communities, environmental sustainability, future changes and the importance of cultural preservation.
By embracing multiple dimensions, planners can devise strategies that not only stimulate material prosperity but also enhance the overall quality of life, preserve green spaces, and promote inclusivity. This approach ensures that decisions are not only innovative and adaptive but also contribute to the long-term health and resilience of the community. Multidimensional thinking, in this setting, is a key driver for creative, sustainable urban development.
How to streamline your multidimensional understanding
It should be clear by now that multidimensional thinking requires us to break down the silos of thinking that separate us from others. It's impossible to undertake multidimensional thinking on your own. It's always a profoundly collective and emergent activity that fuses our own thinking into a larger synthesis of sensemaking.
What was missing from our ability to harness multidimensional understanding is a unifying place where such thinking can occur. We¨ve developed the Hunome platform with this need in mind. The platform enables a community of sensemakers to actively question, reveal, contest and propose ideas from their unique experiences and perceptions. On Hunome, this collective activity builds multidimensional understanding.
With Hunome, your unique viewpoint is in good company. Join us to learn from and contribute to collective sensemaking.
