Taking a New Perspective by Chelsea

Taking a New Perspective by Chelsea - April 2019 Scholarship Essay

“Students, for this assignment I would like you to try something different,” declared my professor, “I’d like you to write this essay from the perspective of someone on the side that you disagree with.”
That would have been all dandy with me, except the class that the professor was teaching was titled Introduction to Religious Thought, and I strongly identified with my beliefs. My strong stance made me obstinate. I feared what I would think and feel as I typed words that would cause me to cringe. I dreaded the possibility of questioning what I had firmly stood upon for much of my life. Additionally, I did not have a complete understanding of the material. I overcame these academic challenges by reminding myself that critical thinking and healthy reflection are important for determining one’s values and why you hold those values. I also reminded myself of the point of the assignment, which was to develop a deeper understanding of different ways of viewing religion and spirituality. Years later, this assignment still inspires me to be curious and ask deeper questions about viewpoints that I do not understand.
I thought reading texts would be sufficient to expand my mind; however, the professor knew that reading alone would not accomplish course objectives. He knew that deeper learning can occur when one is put in a position to formulate an argument based on what we had read. We had read books from scholars such as Soren Kierkegaard, Sigmund Freud, and Emile Durkheim. Some parts of these texts were abstruse to me. In order to overcome this challenge, I had to go to my professor’s office hours and ask questions in class to obtain clarification. I also met up with others students to complete homework assignments for this course. If one student understood the material, they were usually able to explain it in a way that we could all understand. I had to practice determination and focus in order to fully grasp the concepts.
Another challenge that I faced was the emotional work of creating an argument that contradicted everything I stood for. Coming from a somewhat rural area, there was not a space for theists, atheists, and agnostics to discuss different points of view. In high school, we did not discuss religious beliefs and how humans have thought about religion over the years. The Introduction to Religious Thought course was my first time interacting with texts about religion that made assertions inconsistent with what I believe to be true. Part of being a human being is that the unknown or unfamiliar can be scary. While fear does serve to protect us in life or death situations, my fear was tricking me into believing that I would lose or change my identity. New ideas seemed threatening to the core of who I was; however, it actually ended up strengthening my sense of self. When I was in process of completing the assignment, I experienced some doubt about my own beliefs. While challenging, this doubt inspired me to dig deeper into why I hold the values that I do. The very thing that I felt threatened by was actually helping me confirm what I hold true. It also lead me to a greater empathy toward people who think differently than I do.
This greater empathy and curiosity has continued to serve me as a further my education. It inspires me to engage in dialogue that I never would have touched with a ten foot pole years ago. I am so glad that I overcame the challenges presented by this academic assignment. When we engage with diverse world views, we can ask and answer questions never explored by past generations. We can engage in a higher level of critical thinking. We enrich our knowledge base and our ability to empathize with the human experience.