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Relationship 101 for visual thinkers
I have hesitated to write this essay because it may be too obvious, but as a visual thinker it helps me to think about our human relationships in visual terms. Perhaps you will find it useful, too.
Simple Venn diagrams from set theory come to mind. If I think of a person’s interests and abilities as a circle, I can also think about how two persons’ circles can overlap.
In the lead illustration the circles are filled with slanted lines at different angles to represent the two persons’ interests. Their shared interests are represented by the overlapping lines at both angles in the center. That diagram shows what is probably the ideal relationship between two people. They have some interests and abilities in common, and each has additional interests and abilities that the other doesn’t share. That way they have a basis for shared activities and for other activities they can pursue separately, and each can possibly learn from interests and abilities that the other person has but that they themselves lack.
Other diagrams represent less satisfactory relationships. One shows incompatibility, with no overlap:
