Few things are as strange to me as when someone says “that’s just the way it is, and that’s the way it’ll always be”. Things may be a certain way now, but who says they have to be this way, or that that’s how they’ll always be? We have so many amazing things going for us right now because some people didn’t like the way things were and did what they could to make them better. These people, many of whom did what others in their time considered impossible, gave us cars, antibiotics, computers, phones, and a myriad of life-saving and labor-saving devices. Where would we be if they listened to their contemporaries and gave up?
I do think it’s important to recognize the way the world is before trying to change it into what it could be. Whoever wants to improve the world will then know where to start, how much work there is to do in so many areas, and that they’re in for a long, slow process. That way, they won’t give up early on because they’ll know that it’ll be difficult and time consuming. However, I also think that it’s important to avoid assuming that there are no other options for how the world could look than how it currently looks or how it looked in the past. I’ve done this when when I’ve been in bad moods, had a recent negative experience, or had a rough day; when I felt better later, my sense of optimism for the future returned. So, even though I’ve lost this optimistic viewpoint for short periods of time, it’s never completely left me.
Most of the people who have told me that one of my ideas “will never happen” or is “crazy” haven’t given me any reason as to why they think that. Granted, they may be right. It’s entirely possible that I may be wrong and that my idea won’t work, especially if it’s something that’s never been tried before. In most of the conversations like this that I’ve been in, though, I don’t think that the other person has closely examined what I’m saying and used logic to figure out whether or not it will succeed. They typically act as if they automatically *know*, without doing any research to see if anyone has already done what I’m proposing or taking even a minute to think about what I’ve said, that my idea is doomed to fail. Why is that?
What I think is happening here is the same thing I wrote about in one of my first blog posts: their intuition has caused them to lean toward a particular point of view (possibly because it fits in with their worldview, sense of identity/self, or desired outcome for the future) and then they look for any reason that my idea might fail while ignoring any reason that it might work. And, before I continue, this is how my brain works as well. It’s how everyone operates according to Jonathan Haidt in The Righteous Mind and Daniel Kahneman in Thinking, Fast and Slow. Reason exists not to make decisions but to rationalize decisions made by emotion and intuition. I can watch this happening within myself if I’m calm, focused, and present. On rare occasions, it feels like I can even sidestep it and think differently. Whenever I get emotional, however, I forget all about this process. I can recall many times in which I did exactly what I described in the previous paragraph when someone else told me one of their ideas. So if I’m pointing fingers at others, I’m pointing even more fingers back at myself, in this post and in the many others I’ve made about my shortcomings.
As I’ve learned more about the world, my understanding of how much I don’t know has grown tremendously. I’m always learning more about subjects with which I’m familiar and I’m finding out fairly that there are many subjects that I’ve never even heard of until recently. There is so much out there that I don’t even know how much I don’t know. I’ve become more sure than ever before of some things and less sure of others, and I’m always looking to learn more. This has been an incredibly humbling journey for me and I’m grateful for all that I’ve learned on it. Among other things, it’s helped me avoid arguing with other people because I’m now more aware than ever before that someone with whom I’m speaking may have access to a lot of information on a subject that I don’t even know exists. It’s also taught me more about myself and helped me better navigate my life as a result; it’s now much easier for me to move toward fulfilling and meaningful things and steer clear of unnecessary trouble. I don’t know what the future holds but I know how I want it to look, and I think I have a good chance of making it happen. And if I’m wrong, I’ll still enjoy the journey.