Thanks Scott: Yet another thoughtful and thought provoking article. I was struck by the importance of this line...."like it or not, we already navigate the world through our beliefs". Just the acknowledgement of this, and the openness to consider that my beliefs may not be complete or correct, is important I think. I know that I have held on to certain beliefs in my life that later fell very hard, because of how tightly I held them. Staying open and stable within is a good good challenge. Thanks again Scott.
"I know that I have held on to certain beliefs in my life that later fell very hard, because of how tightly I held them." and now I'm struck by the importance of this line! That's actually a really interesting way of framing it; that the tighter we stick to our beliefs, the more we could be setting ourselves up for some sort of 'failure' because... well I guess invariably, the world changes, so perhaps some of our beliefs can start to become incompatible. Hmm, good food for thought!
Okay Scott; this is a goodie. Thank you kindly for putting the effort into such a through provoking article. What came up for me is this - What happens when entire populations are being soaked in on-demand digital media? What happens when this becomes a cultural reference point? Or taken as some kind of surrogate for reality?
Do others observe ways in which this is a vector for pathological social memes or a range of ideologies that do not plug-into our embodied experience aka. 'REALITY'!
(What freaks me out is how the things that happen on social media are now permeating other dimensions of public life and the world of politics.)
First, the slightly tongue-in-cheek response: How did you come to that belief? 😉 But, as a corollary series of questions: How do others come to their beliefs? How much of it is actually informed by social media? For example, I've seen some studies that seem to suggest social media could actually be better at introducing people to diverse ideas than we think, and it's actually the people we hang out with, our social / community circles, that have a bigger influence on polarisation: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14614448221099591
Secondly, at a macro level, if the entire population is being rained on, do we yell at the clouds or do we teach people how to use umbrellas? My argument is of course, for the latter because it accounts for individual empowerment, and it's something we may be able to more directly influence. Of course, there is a system vs individual dynamic, which I talk about here: https://curiositymindset.substack.com/p/is-the-system-really-broken
Thoughts? What do you hypothesise is a meaningful intervention?
Worldview (beliefs) is the lens through which we interpret the world. If we are used to thinking about how we think, then regular review is possible.
I have found it tricky to discussing beliefs/worldview with those who aren't practiced. Reviewing assumptions - let alone changing them is a discipline.
0->1 is the hardest move in anything.
How might we prompt this kind of reflection?
Reminds me of the joke about 2 young fish encountering an older fish:
So I've thought a lot about this and it'll be the subject of a future article, however the short(ish) version is that I still think it starts with: "So tell me how you came to your belief / opinion / position?" And then it's about inhabiting their world, understanding how their pictures are formed, and introducing new ideas through the language they're familiar with.
So to play on your joke:
Old fish: So tell me lads, how did you get here?
Young fish: We swam here
Old fish: Yeah? What was that like for you?
Young fish: Parts of it felt yuck, parts of it felt niiiice.
Old fish: Tell me more.
Etc etc.
My philosophicl argument is that because the older fish is more experienced, I think that there can be a blind spot whereby they've forgotten what it's like to not know about water when they were younger.
Underneath rigidity is often fear. Questioning/inquiry - even when done with gentleness and curiosity, can trigger a fear response i.e. resistance. Particularly around strongly held beliefs, which are part of identity.
Thanks Scott: Yet another thoughtful and thought provoking article. I was struck by the importance of this line...."like it or not, we already navigate the world through our beliefs". Just the acknowledgement of this, and the openness to consider that my beliefs may not be complete or correct, is important I think. I know that I have held on to certain beliefs in my life that later fell very hard, because of how tightly I held them. Staying open and stable within is a good good challenge. Thanks again Scott.
"I know that I have held on to certain beliefs in my life that later fell very hard, because of how tightly I held them." and now I'm struck by the importance of this line! That's actually a really interesting way of framing it; that the tighter we stick to our beliefs, the more we could be setting ourselves up for some sort of 'failure' because... well I guess invariably, the world changes, so perhaps some of our beliefs can start to become incompatible. Hmm, good food for thought!
Okay Scott; this is a goodie. Thank you kindly for putting the effort into such a through provoking article. What came up for me is this - What happens when entire populations are being soaked in on-demand digital media? What happens when this becomes a cultural reference point? Or taken as some kind of surrogate for reality?
Do others observe ways in which this is a vector for pathological social memes or a range of ideologies that do not plug-into our embodied experience aka. 'REALITY'!
(What freaks me out is how the things that happen on social media are now permeating other dimensions of public life and the world of politics.)
Thanks for reading Mei! Ok, two thoughts.
First, the slightly tongue-in-cheek response: How did you come to that belief? 😉 But, as a corollary series of questions: How do others come to their beliefs? How much of it is actually informed by social media? For example, I've seen some studies that seem to suggest social media could actually be better at introducing people to diverse ideas than we think, and it's actually the people we hang out with, our social / community circles, that have a bigger influence on polarisation: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/14614448221099591
Secondly, at a macro level, if the entire population is being rained on, do we yell at the clouds or do we teach people how to use umbrellas? My argument is of course, for the latter because it accounts for individual empowerment, and it's something we may be able to more directly influence. Of course, there is a system vs individual dynamic, which I talk about here: https://curiositymindset.substack.com/p/is-the-system-really-broken
Thoughts? What do you hypothesise is a meaningful intervention?
Worldview (beliefs) is the lens through which we interpret the world. If we are used to thinking about how we think, then regular review is possible.
I have found it tricky to discussing beliefs/worldview with those who aren't practiced. Reviewing assumptions - let alone changing them is a discipline.
0->1 is the hardest move in anything.
How might we prompt this kind of reflection?
Reminds me of the joke about 2 young fish encountering an older fish:
'How's the water?' the older fish asks
'What's water?' reply the younger fish
So I've thought a lot about this and it'll be the subject of a future article, however the short(ish) version is that I still think it starts with: "So tell me how you came to your belief / opinion / position?" And then it's about inhabiting their world, understanding how their pictures are formed, and introducing new ideas through the language they're familiar with.
So to play on your joke:
Old fish: So tell me lads, how did you get here?
Young fish: We swam here
Old fish: Yeah? What was that like for you?
Young fish: Parts of it felt yuck, parts of it felt niiiice.
Old fish: Tell me more.
Etc etc.
My philosophicl argument is that because the older fish is more experienced, I think that there can be a blind spot whereby they've forgotten what it's like to not know about water when they were younger.
Yes- agree.
Underneath rigidity is often fear. Questioning/inquiry - even when done with gentleness and curiosity, can trigger a fear response i.e. resistance. Particularly around strongly held beliefs, which are part of identity.