Most people would assume that gaining perspective is a good thing. I want to suggest a more contrarian view. To gain perspective, we often have to "take a step back" and "gain some distance". We speak of "putting things in perspective". These spatial metaphors suggest that perspective-taking is a distancing move. We are moving away from the object of study, putting it in its place. To be watched is often an uncomfortable experience. Very often, the motivation of gaining perspective is to increase control over something. We wish to separate ourselves from it, in order to assess it and have leverage over it. Think of a general standing over his strategic map and miniature models, or a CFO peering over spreadsheets. In his book [[Reference Notes/Teaching Mathematics]], Brent Davis produces a list of metaphors that *show* how much our culture prioritises the visual: > Within our culture, there is a pervasive use of visual metaphors to describe the *facets* of education. We *see* learning as gaining *insight*, intelligence as *brightness*, investigation as *looking*, understanding as *seeing*, opinions as *perspectives* or *views*, hopes as *visions*, and (very often) teaching as *supervision*. More broadly, tendencies to associate truth with *light*, believing with *seeing*, and objectivity with the distance afforded only to the observer, point to the overwhelming domination of vision over the other senses What if we were to "move in close" and achieve intimacy instead? Listening is a more participatory form of interaction. Brent Davis tries to formulate an ecological mathematics. Makes me think of Gaian Alchemy. The focus on listening is also why I enjoy Feldenkrais. It's stepping away from visual exemplars to be followed. Listening to one's body is dynamic, changing moment to moment.