On the Edge

I'm standing on the edge and my choices are to stay ... 

                                                                ... or take a leap of faith.

Recently, on Brain Pickings (a site I highly recommend), I read about a 1960's experiment "The Visual Cliff." Originally intended to investigate the concept of depth perception in humans, the study revealed much about how we make decisions based on emotional signaling. 

Babies were placed on a solid surface that appeared to end when the checkerboard gave way to clear Plexiglas. The question was, what would the babies do when they reached the edge? What the researchers discovered was the expression on the mother's face, across the way, more reliably predicted what action the infant would take. If mom's look was encouraging, the baby would continue, even though the surface appeared to drop off. An anxious, fearful mom would likely stop the infant when the table 'ended'.

In both cases, the child was trying to please the one person they trusted to know what was best.

So I began to wonder ...

What were those mothers afraid of? Their child's safety? The child's ability to navigate? Feeling like a failure if their infant didn't perform or show courage? Rationally, they knew it would be all right and there was no danger. But something else was going on and their child sensed it. "Mom doesn't want me to do it. Mom doesn't think I can do it. There's danger. Mom is afraid — I should be afraid. I should stay here. It's safer."

And that got me thinking ...

Don't each of us look across the abyss for those encouraging expressions that say "You can do it. I'm here to catch you if you stumble. It's okay"? When we see those clues, we feel more confident, knowing someone believes in our ability — to either leap, or fly. Confident that we will make it across or soar to unimaginable heights. Confident someone we trust, on the other side, trusts us.

What we are more likely to see are expressions of fear.

And when we do?  Well ... we stay where we are. It's safer.


(P.S. As I wrote this post, I could visualize this scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  But honestly, I'll take any excuse to visualize Harrison Ford!)