I saw this image recently. I've seen it before. This time it appealed more to me. It reminded me that judgement of circumstances and people (including your judgement and understanding of this image) depends on your perspective. Where you've been and who you've been with. What you've done, what's happened to you, and what's not. Everyone's perspective is unique and ultimately relative. However, depending on your perspective, it might just be an(other) image .
We often don't realize the extent to which past circumstances influence present judgement. Eventually, with time and age, we are confronted with more challenges. More failures and successes which very gradually reshape our perspective. Sometimes we reflect on a past decision and cringe and wonder "How stupid/bold/naive I was!". This is as a result of an evolution in perspective which we might only notice after extended periods of time. Yet it is happening constantly.
Based on past experiences, you intentionally and unintentionally draw lines on what you like and what you don't like. These lines put boundaries on what you are willing to try or not try, which in turn sets boundaries to the evolution of your perspective. It will only grow as wide as you are willing to venture outside its boundaries. Your perspective determines your approach to every activity and every new activity in turn shapes that perspective.
We often expect others to understand why we see things the way we do and why we are right. Why this is better than that. Or not. Yet, everyone has had a different life, with different circumstances. People won't see things exactly the way you do. Some can relate. Some may empathize. But ultimately, their experiences have been different. So is their understanding and judgement. Even when looking at the same thing at the same time or experiencing the same event, everyone's interaction and experience is different. So will be their remembrance of it. Different.
Sometimes you share something with someone. A song, movie, picture or an experience you like. You expect them to relate to it. To empathize on some features you deem worthy. To like or dislike it too. You feel the way you do only because it's attached to aspects of your past and your eminent perspective. Elements from your past experience have defined, reinforced and shaped your mind leading to your current perspective. This state of mind agrees with and finds the shared object pleasant, hence the resulting feeling of like or dislike. Yet despite the odds, you hope the other person has particular feelings towards it. Sometimes, they don't. When they do relate, it is usually to different extents. Their experiences have been different. Their perspective is different. But if they do to a considerable extent, a possibly magical bond is formed.
Choosing to like or dislike any thing or situation determines how wide or narrow your perspective will expand about it. We make the decision to like or dislike very often. It is very important to make it a conscious decision. Be prudent and more tolerant about what you choose to like and dislike. Give more room for error, or future change in point of view. That way, you dislike a thing today yet accept to give it a try tomorrow, because your perspective might have changed. Tomorrow there's a chance you'll see or think or judge differently with a shifted mindset.
Open-minded people realize that most if not all decisions are made based on perspective. That perspective is a defining and possibly limiting factor. Hence they try to be a flexible and open to new concepts, to counter the natural limiting effects of perspective.
"To a man with a hammer, everything is a nail." ~ Mark Twain
As perspective broadens, you understand the consequences of having a narrower one. Of having only a hammer. You're more likely to understand why a person chooses to act in a certain way for example, faced with a certain situation. Voluntarily limiting yourself by irrevocably sticking to certain ways of thinking; or involuntarily by not actively searching beyond your scope, inhibits growth of perspective. With a narrow perspective, it is more difficult to understand why another person sees different. You expect them to see things the way you do or in a particular way.
Perspective is like a hand of cards. You have as many options as you have cards in hand. With more, you have more possibilities, to do more.
Like the rhino, you only see the world as you are. Everything you've done and been through has shaped your perspective into what it is now. Yet, it is only a drop in an ocean. Consciously choose to widen its boundaries first by realizing that you only know so much and can only come up with as many thoughts or ideas as your perspective will permit. Yet there are millions more. Realize that as well as your perspective is defined, it's not fixed. It is immensely flexible and has no end point for its growth. As well as it might be a limiting factor, it is an incredible tool that can only be made sharper by exploring what is beyond its boundaries. It only grows when you challenge it. When you dare to search beyond it.