Practicing double descriptions

Every situation can be seen two ways. We can practice making double descriptions in many different ways. We can:

• describe the thing we're observing and lens we're looking through to see it
• speak of the content and the context we bring to that content
• address it and our way of relating to it, embodying it or grounding it in our experience
• say what we have to say and where we're coming from to say that
• pay attention to something outside us and to our basis for pay attention on the inside of us
• make a thing of what we are seeing and of the process it is going through
• mention the obvious node in a system and the hidden cycle that ties us to it coming and going

Double descriptions like these make us effective. We effect others in a good way. We not only see things objectively, but subjectively as if we filter our perceptions and attributions of the exchange. We describe our bringing personal feelings, needs, histories and biases into our observations. We stop pretending to be unbiased, detached and unaffected by what we're seeing. We count ourselves in the situation we're describing.

When people describe us both ways, we feel understood by them and touched by their understanding of themselves. It seems like they have empathy for us and them too. Their sensitivity to our situation and theirs move us. They are showing consideration of our condition separate from them and in common with them. It appears to us that we're both getting pictured accurately in their minds, not labeled, framed unfairly or misinterpreted.

In the midst of these double descriptions, we become cooperative. We want to help out and understand others in return. Social capital abounds as we reciprocate responsibly and benefit from our generosity. We also see others both ways and effect them in a similar manner. The spill-over effects from these exchanges benefit everyone touched by the interconnections.