Can We Truly See Everything?

Can we ever truly know a person? Are we able to look beyond the surface to truly know another's motives, emotions, and real feelings & personality? Moreover, can we even ever truly know ourselves? These questions, among others, have been at the forefront of public discourse since the release of Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheimer’s You Can See Everything. In the thrilling box office hit, we see Nathan Fielder trying to get at just that with Elizabeth Holmes, the now-convicted Theranos founder, who is still pleading for her innocence. Whether or not you’ve watched it, these are increasingly relevant questions in our age of media “presence,” TV "personalities,” and our search for authenticity and real connection with others. You can see the trailer here.

There’s a short segment in one of Amy Poehler’s recent podcast episodes, where she discusses with fellow comedian Kate Berlant the topic of human existence as “performance.” According to Berlant, all of human existence is a performance—our sexuality, relationships, and even the most mundane of interactions. The segment is from 29:46-33:34 on this episode.

There is also the reality David Brooks points out in his book, How to Know a Person, that we often do not see people or things as they are, but instead we see them as we are.

Given these challenges, and many others, how do we move with meaning and purpose with others in the world? Do we simply proceed with distrust, or indifference, or naiveté?

Cheers!