!!!The other side of the mountain 
(Original by H. Maurer, modified short version by unknown translator)

!1 The Traunstein, a beautiful mountain on the eastern shore of Lake Traun, looks quite different from Gmunden than from Ebensee, and is much less impressive from the East. 
!2 And this is true for almost every mountain, or mountain range, and is true even for most small or large objects. After all, the front and back side of a coin can be so different that they would not be recognized as coming from the same coin without experience. 
!3 Why am I writing so extensively about this truism? Because many people have not understood that this "using different points of views" not only applies to objects (for example mountains), but of course also for ideas (for mountains of thoughts). 
!4 How often have I heard the almost reproachful observation: "But you expressed yourself on this matter quite differently a short time ago!" Yes, why not? I'm not fickle or the like. I should not have a single view of a particular idea. Rather, the idea has different appearances, depending on from where it is viewed.'
!5 "You have changed your point," I sometimes hear. Yes, of course, and I'm proud of it. Not to change the view that is like viewing the Traunstein always only from Gmunden and not other places. And a dispute over the appearance of a coin makes little sense if one person sees only the front, the other looks only at the back! 
!6 It should be clear to us all that one can very well talk in detail about an idea (a mountain of ideas, to stay with the analogy) (such as in physical reality the Traunstein), but a full understanding of the idea (a full appreciation of Traunstein) can be obtained only if we consciously consider this idea from different points of view (i.e. if we consciously change our position several times). 
!7 Such an approach is not fickle, unprincipled or something similar, it is the only successful way, as we ought to know since Socrates. 
!8 He taught to always look at everything from all sides and to use arguments and counter-arguments of all types to clarify the real facts, to avoid to consider one particular view (viewed from the perspective of a single viewpoint) as "objectively true".'

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[Zur deutschen Originalversion|Wissenssammlungen/Essays/Unterhaltendes_/Der_Berg_von_hinten]
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