Examining Paradigms

Why am I blogging? I've learned a lot of lessons because I've made a lot of really dumb choices in my life. I wish to share my own ignorance and lessons learned with anyone who cares to read them. I hope you will glean some form of wisdom from my mistakes.

I also learned that the only way to change what you don't like in the world is to make choices and take actions that will make the world change in the way you want to see it. The world won't change just because we want it to. We have to do something to make those changes happen.

I made a lot of those mistakes because I didn't stop and think things through myself and ask my own questions and review my own thoughts. I listened to others and didn't take time to process all the information coming at me, consider what all the information meant, and how I might best deal with my situation. I DIDN'T THINK FOR MYSELF. I DIDN'T CHECK IN WITH MY OWN FEELINGS.

I've believed myths my family and society taught me, and later found out they were just that, myths. Well, more like illusions, or maybe dillusions. We are brought up to believe certain fundamental things about our world and ourselves. These are paradigms. For example, some of our current paradigms are:

1. humans are not destroying Earth
2. life happens to us and we have little control over it
3. a good credit score is essential for survival in the modern world
4. science and religion are at completely opposite ends of the belief spectrum
5. religion and faith are the same things
6. it's best to have a single career at a time and depend on that career for your sole support
7. being miserable in your good-paying job is acceptable
8. you can't have a car without car payments
9. you can't live without debt
10. God punishes us if we do something bad
11. most people are doing ok financially
12. education itself is the key to success
13. education is best measured by standardized tests
14. teaching children to think and solve problems is done only when the material for the standardized test has been learned adequately
15. maximizing individual potential only happens to a few great people
16. all things exist without our actual experience of them
17. reality is all the stuff out in the world
18. thoughts are not reality

The point is, we take many things for granted. If history is any teacher, our progeny will later find that many of our paradigms are not true, just as we have found many of the paradigms our ancestors believed were not true.

Because I began thinking for myself and listening to my feelings about everything in life, I began to recognize that many of the above paradigms are not true. I even believe some of them will prove dangerous to our survival if they aren't changed pretty soon. But the most important thing I've learned is to trust my own thoughts, ideas, instincts, and feelings. I listen to others and read constantly for more information and varying viewpoints. I love a good debate. But I've learned to take information and process it, and then trust what I make of it myself. I never trusted myself or my own abilities to make solid decisions before recently. So much of life tore my self-esteem down, and I believe the most damaging thing low self-esteem does is teach you not to trust yourself. That's a bad place to be. If you can't trust you, who can you trust, and who will trust you?

As I write, I will address these paradigms in separate posts. I'm sure I'll have more on my mind than what's listed above. I always do. I've kept handwritten journals for years. Blogging will be easier because I can type faster than I can write by hand.

I only hope you don't find what I write boring. It may make you mad, sad, happy, anything, but I hope not bored.

Please feel free to leave comments and discuss what's on your mind. I'd love to hear what you think.