When you look at an old fashioned clock, the kind with a round face and a minute hand, an hour hand and a second hand, then depending on where you are standing you can see a different view of the time. Standing straight in front of the clock the time might look to be 12:00 but stand slightly to the side and the clock looks like it is saying 12:03.
Depending on what you need to do at the time that difference can be an important difference or it may not matter at all-“It’s around 12 o’clock!”
When we look at the clock straight on we get an unimpeded view of the truth. The clock is showing 12:00. When we look at it from the side it looks like it is showing 12:03, (or from the other side 11:57) Viewing error like this is called parallax. When we stand straight in front of the clock we “Zero Parallax.”
But there is another way we can Zero Parallax. If we are standing at the side and we are aware of our relationship then we can take this into account. Looking at the clock it might look like it is saying 11:57 but taking into account our position we guess that it is saying 11:59 or maybe even 12:00. And so we can help to zero parallax by understanding where we are in relationship to the clock.
If we are standing straight in front of the clock we get a single view of the clock. It is not the only view and while for telling the time it may be the best view but it doesn’t mean that the other views or positions are any less valuable. Looking at the clock from the side we can see that the hands stand proud of the face and so we understand that depending on where we stand we all have a different view of the truth. And so Zero Parallax is understanding that no view is “wrong” it is just a different view and when we can see from all points of view, that is when we can maximize our understanding. We can understand that for the best view of the time we stand straight in front of the clock. We understand that by standing at the side we can see how each hand is at a slightly different distance from the face of the clock. If we have a cutaway view clock we can actually see the gears of the clock from the side if the clock actually does have gears and isn’t driven by an electric motor.
So really zero parallax is understanding both how we relate to an object and how the parts of the object relate to each other and how other people relate to that object. How is this beneficial? What are the advantages of seeing from all points of view?
For a long time two different parties debated over whether light was more like a particle of more like a wave. There was experimental evidence to support both points of view. But both parties thought that light had to be either one or the other. With the advent of quantum mechanics it was realized that both views were right, that light is both a particle and a wave, it depends under which circumstances you view it. And this model applied to not just light but all sub atomic particles. This new understanding is responsible for the state of digital electronics today. Without this understanding we may not have the computers we have now.
And so understanding different points of view and how they are both views of the same thing gives us more possibility as opposed to less. It gives us more choices on how to do things and how to view things. It opens us up to the world of possibility and understanding.
And so zero parallax, this website, is geared towards providing you tools so that you can see both yourself and the world around you more clearly and so that you can choose from a greater space of possibility. It is understanding that we all have a different view of all that is, and that perhaps that is why we are here, experiencing life, so that all that is can know itself by us experiencing life to the greatest extent possible, by realizing our greatest and best possibility.
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