Our thoughts really belong to the collective consciousness of the world in all of time. Our individual minds process the cumulative database recorded on the physical and subtle levels and devise interesting combinations, unique interpretations, and random permutations. When this assemblage of information is startling enough, we hail it as an expression of genius. The pattern of human thinking is designed to hold homeostatic belief systems. This has great survival value for establishing consensus reality. Our minds love to believe that our particular interpretation of events is true. And, if others disagree with us, it only convinces us that our experience of the world is the authentic one. We establish the dominance of our world-view through selective filtering patterns. This is why every fresh interpretation of knowledge, every invention, every innovation is met with violent opposition. In fact, given the remarkable gravitational pull of any established view, it's almost miraculous when a new paradigm claws its way out of the slime of resistance into the clear light of acceptance. Homeostasis is maintained through two factors: pride and denial. We use the emotion of pride to defend a cherished position and we use the mechanism of denial to suppress anything that contradicts our position. Only when the opposing or contradictory information reaches a critical mass do we acknowledge it. This resistance to fresh insight is common to everyone regardless of culture, background, intelligence, and educational level. Yet confronting resistance is another force, an irresistible compulsion to overcome stasis and discover anew. Consequently, what happens is that people and societies do change, but slowly, very slowly, because the dynamism of new paradigms are always slowed down by the drag of old paradigms. To transcend the built-in limitations of our minds to resist fresh ideas is an act of will. We must choose to question the nature of our beliefs. We must choose to be interested in other perspectives. When we surrender our view that we know something, when we are willing to entertain the discomfort of an alternative answer, and when we prefer curiosity to pride, we step into the realm of possibility thinking. Possibility thinking is a heroic act because it allows the future to break from the past. It allows for a flow of new probabilities and outcomes. Our future depends on those who dare to think beyond the confines of orthodoxy. Possibility thinking is the child of evolution. It is empowered by hope and vision. |
