Perspective.

This is the trump card to any battle of opinions that an undergraduate is losing: "Well, that's your Perspective." And as far as the undergraduate's words go, s/he is absolutely right. But such accurate words usually mask an inner resolve to deny the validity of her/his opponent's opinion. The undergraduate is rarely as interested in understanding another's Perspective as s/he is in having his/her own Perspective understood.

I think there's an undergraduate in all of us.

A happy byproduct of zen practice is the realization of Perspective, especially one's own. PBJWhen this realization first strikes, it can be frightening. (Zen reveals some pretty subtle things, so for simplicity's sake, we'll stay superficial.)

In meditation, you start to see that a single difference in your life would have changed the "you" you identify as "you." What if your mother drank (more/less/not at all) when she was pregnant with you? What if you beat up more kids in second grade? What if you were beat up by more kids in second grade? What if you were born into a Jewish family instead of a Muslim one? What if you went to Harvard instead of Brown? What if you joined the Army instead of the Navy? What if, what if, what if...How would these changes have affected your ideas about--everything?

Then the next realization strikes: the "what ifs" don't matter; "you" are who "you" are. But what does matter is your realization: "you" and your Perspective are almost entirely dependent on factors you can't influence. 

But admitting that school, family, religion, and friends all influenced your Perspective grants you a mobility of mind. No longer are you hemmed in by a Perspective that is "yours;" you can step out of the trench and see that many people assisted heavily in digging it for you. And from your new Perspective, you can see trenches everywhere.

(Now this analogy is dangerous; the image is one of a person with an unentrenched Perspective "looking down" on others'. That's certainly not the case. Please don't let my inability to conjure appropriate images detract from the point. All an unentrenched Perspective grants is the freedom to see that there is, indeed, a negligible structure to Perspectives.)

Et sans segue: the LSAT should be approached as trench-less warfare (if you choose to approach it as warfare at all). It's more like a duel: each stimulus, question, and game is a unique opponent. With fluidity of thought, you attack each, by itself, and move on to the next. You keep no memory of the previous opponent.

If you maintain your Perspective in the LSAT, you'll lose. Stimuli with subject-matter you care about will trip you up (environmentalism, drug use, government debt). Stimuli you don't care about will bore you (biology, chemistry, business). Attacking such stimuli with your Perspective intact really is like fighting from the trenches; you'll be overwhelmed and trapped.

The Unfettered Mind is a great complement to zazen, the LSAT, and conversations with people you vehemently disagree with. So is The Book of Five Rings and The Art of War.

If you're an undergraduate and I've insulted you, I apologize. Here, let me offer you a gift: next time you're losing a battle of opinions, use the graduate student's trump card: "Well, that's my Perspective."

(Photographic thanks to PBJ at Hotshoe Coldfeet.)