With New Eyes to See: Changing the Perception of Self and Other through Interreligious Friendship

Abstract

In the fifth year of my doctoral program, I became a teaching fellow assigned to a course on the comparison of Buddhist and Christian doctrines and practices. One day, as I was entering the building where my class was held, I encountered John just as he was leaving the same building. From a distance, I saw him, but did not recognize him at first. It was only as we both neared the door that we finally recognized each other. In that moment, we both stopped, smiled, and chatted a little bit. Then, in what I realize now was a moment of teaching, he asked me to notice how our reactions changed the moment we recognized each other. He talked about how, from a distance when we did not yet recognize each other, we were strangers. Right then, we did not have anything to do with each other’s lives so we kept walking, lost in our own thoughts and concerns. Then as we walked closer to each other, something changed. As the perception of the other changed from “stranger” to “friend,” our attitude became different. From indifference, we moved to the surprise and pleasure of bumping into a friend. He asked me to notice how my attitude and emotion changed within those few seconds of moving into recognition.