Paradigm Busters!

[ehowton]

I've been on this path lately of nuking paradigms as I come across them - and not just the easy ones. The hard ones. The ones no one questions because they either have to look too deeply into themselves, or they don't care to. But the whole passivity of waiting for something new to come along to challenge has really been dragging me down. I've therefore decided to expand my practice to actively seeking things to challenge!

Courage is not the absence of fear. It is acting in spite of it. ~ Mark Twain

Its interesting what you learn about people by their opinions. Its even more interesting what you learn about them when you ask them why they believe something - anything - to be real, or true, or even why its their opinion. To prepare myself, I've been asking myself these questions too. I don't want to outright reject established paradigms for many of them which exist are in place because they have a high rate of repeatable success. That doesn't mean I won't verify them, however. And I really have been questioning everything. No topic too big, no topic too small!

That's what she said!

Exhausting? Yes. But I do it while I walk; three, one hour walks daily. Mental fitness, physical fitness. I try to separate logic from emotion from biology and then link them back together perhaps in a different order - to sort out which bits are playing a role where. Its fascinating really to look at anything at all and suddenly question why it even exists - why its there, in place. I'm surprised to find most of the answers lie in some sort of socio-econiomic religious tradition.

Tradition = NOT a good reason to do some shit you've always done.

What will be next? I HAVE NO IDEA! Its INSANE to challenge EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME. Unless of course you believe in consistently expiring your baselines to establish new, more effective ones. Constant reevaluation without provocation. That's been my motto for months now, and knowing me and my path, I don't see it changing anytime soon...Though I do plan to challenge its effectiveness from time to time!

Perhaps it requires such depth of oppression to create such heights of character. ~ Nelson Mandela

Comments

[michelle1963.livejournal.com]

Besides the socio-economic-religious traditions, I often hypothesize that some paradigms come out of a specific instance in which a strategy worked well, and then becomes over-generalized. I suspect this may be more likely to occur at an institution level than a societal level, but institutions can and do influence society.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Indeed! I touched on that briefly in my Compel Me () post where policy is concerned, and it could absolutely apply here as well!

Especially since institutions are but an extension of society.

[pcofwildthings.livejournal.com]

Much food for thought. I thought I'd heard the Twain quote attributed to Eleanor Roosevelt, but I guess not. She had similar things to say on the subject though.

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

I saw various forms of it as being quoted by everyone from Idi Amin to Gandhi, and with that wide berth I picked one and ran with it.

[codekitten.livejournal.com]

i love it when you are all exclamation-pointy :D

"But I do it while I walk; three, one hour walks daily"
do you set out with what you want to think about or do you let your mind wander? i find meditation to be challenging (but then maybe all the reason to keep doing it). i might be more inclined to do something that involves movement.

"Courage is not the absence of fear. It is acting in spite of it."
yes!

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

i love it when you are all exclamation-pointy :D

Ha! While it may be true it doesn't happen often, tomorrow's post is rife with them!

do you set out with what you want to think about or do you let your mind wander?

Maybe a general outline sometimes. I find the "flow" of thoughts helpful as well as trying to keep on track.

[celtmanx.livejournal.com]

[ehowton.livejournal.com]

Where's the fun in that!?