3. Putting Paradigm in its Place

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A paradigm is defined as a model or pattern. For our purposes consider it a way of thinking about any given subject. A paradigm is a way to understand something through associative groups of ideas. So to change your mind is to change your paradigm. It’s not that simple of course, but it will be after your “Paradigm paradigm” is in place.

Paradigms are built out of networks of associations. You might think you’ve decided that your favourite colour is blue, but it’s been decided for you by the mess of associations you have for the concept of “blue.” An example of an association could be a memory, or just a simple thought. Imagine that inside your brain there is a complicated three dimensional web of tiny neural highways that connect to each other at millions upon millions of junctions. A junction could have many highways coming in and out of it, or it might be dangling by itself, a cul de sac, the end of the line. In our metaphor, inside each of the junctions is a single purpose, it could be an idea, concept, thought, or memory and its sole purpose is to fire or not fire. The complexity of the web develops as associations physically link junctions together. So, in a simple scenario, the child understands that cookies taste yummy because some sensory junctions have connected the concepts of “cookie” to the concepts of “yummy.” (Bypassing the obvious associations of “cookie” to “food”, “eat”, “grab” etc.) Or rather, Cookie > Yummy. The horseshoe symbol creates an “if... then” statement. So C > Y means “if it’s a cookie, then it’s yummy.” A complete statement with subject and predicate, following the rules of symbolic logic, very similarly to grade school grammar. (You can use => on your keyboard to type an acceptable, “arrow” substitute.) You can also say “if and only if” with = or > or on your keyboard = There are other logic symbols that express other ideas, they will be examined as we need them.⁸ To change the child’s “Cookie Paradigm,” bake cookies out of something less delicious, say sourdough/asparagus flavour. Now the child has difficulty accepting that this new “thing” is even a cookie at all. Perhaps, this new “thing” > Not Cookie, or Cookie > (?) The child’s cookie paradigm has shifted.

Thomas Kuhn opened minds to both ideas of ‘paradigm’ and ‘paradigm shift.’ I'm more interested in how he also commented on how paradigm could get in the way of communication. If two scientists had different ways of looking at a problem, different paradigms about the same subject, they might have trouble communicating. He called it scientific paradigm incommensurability. Kuhn, in my opinion, limited the idea of Paradigm by limiting his definitions. It was as if he wanted to keep Paradigm for the exclusive use of scientists. I can’t speak to his motives or otherwise, but by not realizing the social benefit a utilitarian appreciation of ‘paradigm’ provides, Kuhn lost any chance to define its boundaries. Also fascinating to assume is Kuhn’s apparent ignorance of the real power his little idea contained. He would later acknowledge its takeover, by further narrowing his view, to coin “exemplars:” paradigms generally accepted as rule. Kuhn's idea of paradigm is more outward looking, and while the constituents of paradigm were, at least in part, as was the typification, a concern to him he certainly never dissected it as we do now.

The differences of ‘paradigm’ are the differences of language, of lesson, of opinion, of desire, etc. They are the very stuff that makes us individual. My rules for paradigm have been borne of the failure of Kuhn to extrapolate the social potential of his idea. I’m not alone in having done this but I seem to be in my definition. The Anti-Social movement is strong. After the idea of paradigm was modernized by Kuhn, even it’s limited infancy, how could scientists, authors, corporations, et al not “borrow” its universal nature and hone it as they required?

Science goes through stages, much like all things do. A natural lengthy phase where the norm is established then a more exciting, revolutionary phase where Things Change. Then the change becomes the norm, thus the birth of the “shift.” Sometimes it happens without the overall acceptance of its power? We come to a shift, we accept the shift, we change our paradigm. If we are lucky we realize we just made the shift. If we are brave enough we examine what it means to have made ANY shift and how it might empower us to make pre-emptive shifts where necessary. (Thomas Kuhn rolls over in grave.)

Let’s look at another common paradigm, the idea of “Bed.” Be it an extravagant, luxurious set up at a five star hotel or a dirty horse blanket in the desert, bed is a concept that you began to understand before you can even remember. At first it was probably associated with sleep, comfort, warmth, perhaps even love as your parents may have read you stories, kissed you and tucked you in. Your associative group, your “bed” paradigm is made up of a “few” junctions. Within a few years, it is likely that ‘bed’ might run a fresh line to a new junction, ‘punishment.’ Maybe you are sent to bed without dinner, or you feel that your “bedtime” is unfair. Later still in life the idea of “bed” will most likely become linked to many other junctions; Romance, sex, power, misery, laundry, whatever... You can see how the list can be as lengthy as the newly forming associations in your mind. (Incidentally, my metaphor isn’t too far from the physical truth of your brain, this is the way it actually works!)

By the time you are in your mid twenties your mind is essentially “made up.” (A little bit earlier than that for females.) That is not to say that you can’t make new junctions, in fact, very recent studies have shown that neuro-plasticity, or your brains’ ability to physically change remains healthy throughout most of your life. However, you are not going to make as many new associative connections in the remaining seventy or so years of your life as you did in the first twenty because the ‘forming’ brain is the most pliable. Fret not, for you can take comfort in the fact that you are much more likely (in your wisdom) to recognize epiphaniacle experiences as new junctions are created or connected to create “A-ha!” moments. These moments of strong realization, something almost all humans can relate to, are associative networks of ideas that are connecting into super highways of thought, built of blood flow and tiny discharges of electricity.

Let’s argue that in whatever world I live, the concepts of “bed” and “sex” are connected but the idea of prostitution is a complete unknown. In such a paradigm there is no link between “bed” and “income.” Then, one day through no fault of my own, I become aware of prostitution. Suddenly, I am able to link “bed” to “sex” to “income.” Perhaps I’ll become involved in prostitution in such a way that I become unable to think of “bed” in my old paradigm. It’s possible that, after the paradigm shift, and suffering the lifestyle of a typical prostitute, I will forever look at “bed” with negative feelings, and not at all remember the comfort or warmth of my earlier associations. I say, “This life stinks and I’m trapped in it.” Such is the nature and the power of paradigm shift. (This was a long term case example, a very similar effect could be achieved in one horrible evening of abuse.)

Now let’s imagine I latch onto prostitution with a lively vigor that will eventually lead me to become the Madame of the largest whorehouse in the world. I’ve had my scrapes and “paid my dues” much as the first prostitute did, but I never let anyone change my spirit and now I look at beds and see them as puffy white clouds taking my clients to Heaven. I am successful, healthy and happy. I happen to love sex, I’m good at it, I’m good at running my business, therefore ‘Bed’ > ‘Success.’ The outlook of the first prostitute was exactly the same as the second ones’ at the beginning. They both just “became aware” that prostitution existed. They both decided it was for them. The first one had experiences that lead her to associate ‘bed’ with ‘pain.’ The second one had similar experiences that lead her to associate ‘bed’ with ‘success.’ The difference being that the second one had an understanding of paradigms. Sure, she didn’t call it that, she just never let anyone ‘change her mind.’ She was going to be successful and she was. It could have gone the other way despite her attitude, but it didn’t. The first prostitute has no idea of paradigms. She lives in a reality where things happen to her. She has no control over her life. She had (unconsciously) decided that things were going to be bad in this life, and (surprise!) they are.

I use prostitutes in my explanation because they are an ancient idea that is still commonplace today and they bring morals into the equation. Let’s call the first one, the unsuccessful, unhappy one, “Britney.” And let’s name the second, successful hooker, “Christina.” So far Britney has demonstrated Paradigm Ignorance, (or unconscious paradigms,) by not accepting responsibility for her positions, (she’s a person that things happen to.) She’s had small but relevant paradigm shifts and used Assignee’s Prerogative to her disadvantage by attaching negativity. (She considers her experiences to be sufferances.)

Christina has illustrated Paradigm Cognition by her decision to not allow her paradigm to be displaced and by not assigning negativity to unpleasant associations she used ‘Assignee’s Prerogative’ to her advantage. If you had to decide between them both, surely all would agree that by any standard Christina was a happier, more successful and more productive hooker.

Yeah, but, she’s still a whore!

Exactly! So what? What do you think of that? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why are you deciding on that? Do you have to? Is your life going to be altered in some way if you just let the idea of prostitution be and assign nothing to it’s paradigm? Do you know any hookers, is your sister a whore? No, then what bloody difference does it make? Let it go! This is not possible for the vast majority of humans because we must decide. How can we help but form an opinion? How can we truly know anything if we can’t have an opinion of it? Some of us might even go so far as to believe ourselves when we say we have no opinion of prostitutes, (we’re not judgemental.) Then we cross the street to avoid the “busy corner.”

In the preceding example of ‘bed,’ we were able to successfully join the concept to ‘income’ through ‘prostitution.’ This paradigm shift (the realization of the concept of prostitution,) is a side effect of maturing, or rather becoming knowledgeable, that I call Paradigm Tarnishing. It’s taken your positive connotations of “bed” and attached them to something you find uncomfortable. The effect is probably more recognizable in the common lessons of disappointing ilk, “Your parents lie. Your teacher is an idiot. Your cat ate its kittens.” The experiences happen without you knowing the how or why, once you are aware of these you’ll be able to do something to control your self, presuming you can’t already.

The connections of the junctions linking the simple concepts, (bed + sex + income) > prostitution are only the core of the association. On top of that are many other pathways to junctions varied by each individual and formed uniquely to build your own ‘prostitution’ paradigm. I can only guess at what weird or wonderful things are rattling around in your head when you think of “bed.” (Incidentally, there is no Paradigm “Polishing”, the opposite of “Tarnishing” because Paradigm Cognition polishes approaches by default and attaching positive associations to negative concepts is stupidly dangerous. It does, however, try to get presented to us constantly; “Friendly Fire....” “Near Miss...” “Acceptable Losses...”) And we do it to ourselves by, for example, enjoying a delicious cigarette.

One thing certainly experienced by modern humans is the urgent desire to form an opinion of any given subject, immediately and often in spite of not having any foreknowledge or understanding of it. If you wish to test the hypothesis just ask anyone what they think of anything, especially if they have no way of knowing it. (Here the language gives away the nature of the question. There is a marked difference between questions that start either: “Tell me what you think about...” and “Tell me what you know about...”) This enormous egocentric fault is demonstrated by our ability to work against our own best interests. It is also at the core of my argument.

So, I ask you now, think about your bed. Think back to all the beds you’ve had. Remember all the associations you have made with ‘bed.’ What do you think about when I suggest you think about ‘bed’ I bet it’s quite a bit different from what you would if I asked you to think about prostitution. If you were to jot it all down in two columns and then beside, make two more columns cataloguing everything you knew about ‘bed’ and ‘prostitution,’ the latter list would be much shorter. The difference between the two is opinion formed, and strongly held. Think of it this way, your paradigms are built up of what you have absorbed through either experience or lesson. They are not your opinions, they are what form your opinions, networks of associations. Those associations group together to create a Paradigm, which can be an opinion. Sometimes the opinion is deserving, sometimes not. You probably have a healthy, “normal” paradigm where you think very banal thoughts about ‘bed.’ It’s almost nothing, barely registers on the emotional radar. ‘Prostitution’ gets a stronger response because there are morals attached and therefore more junctions involved. The cascading avalanche of connectivity leads to a stronger mental reaction.

If the person contemplating “bed” holds powerful associations within their paradigm, they may be physically manifest in discolouration, outbursts, violence, etc. This again, is their Assignee's Prerogative. It’s as complicated as they need to make it. However for these people and for all the rest of us, once we have developed an appreciation for “what we are” and “how we got that way” we, feeling like we've been given the key to “the secret,” may indeed go nuts with power. I can remember when I came to understand what I’ve explained to you thus far. It was a moment of empowerment. Once I understood Paradigm, opinion, the physical work occurring in the brain much as I’ve described, I thought I was so much wiser than my friends. It turned out that wisdom runs faster than I can and my friends were happier than I was. We are going to find that it is impossible to know every paradigm fully. To this end we must still strive. It’s important that we understand the significance of the concept of Paradigms for five reasons: 1.) We can understand our thoughts are formed by associations. 2.) We can examine the constructive associations of our paradigms and evaluate their validity. 3.) We can assign or re-assign importance or value to our paradigms using Assignee’s Prerogative. 4.) We can reclaim identity through the formulation of our own, original opinions. (Authentic Self.) 5.) If the examination exposes previously unconscious paradigms, you have by definition, discovered at least some of your Authentic Self.

Or: ‘If exposing Paradigm creates Authentic Self and Evaluation is the key to exposing paradigm, then Evaluation is the key to Authentic Self.

E > P

P > AS <- line means “therefore.”

E > AS (If you’re with me so far, congratulations, you’re a philosopher.)

We must also consider the responsibility one accepts as a practitioner of the contemplative life. As Spalding Gray says in “Monster in a Box” “To name it is to claim it and to claim it is to take away it’s power.” One has taken a sort of “oath to reason” once reason has been established. To go back to being unreasonable would be unthinkable, yet this happens.

Let’s return to our original metaphor and discuss this final point to conclude. If, shortly after my discovery of prostitution, I am asked “What do you think of it?” The best answer, rarely heard, is “Well I just found out about it, didn’t I? Why don’t I get back to you after I’ve formed an opinion.” More likely I am to form an instantaneous decision based on other peoples’ ideas, what I’ve learned, what I’ve heard, what your facial expression tells me I should think, or whatever else I’ve got to work with inside my experience. So I shout out, “No! That’s disgusting and demeaning.” Yet, obviously we have prostitution. Some humans have looked at their bed/income association and found it appealing. It’s been around forever, so how can it be that I am so eager to denounce it? The point is, understanding something and forming an opinion of it are two separate functions of mind that aren’t always copacetic. As I have never known a prostitute, nor had any dealings with, nor even known anyone who’s had dealings with one, how can I possibly understand? I can’t, yet I form an opinion. It’s completely illogical and probably unjust. I have used other people’s opinions to set a paradigm for myself. (Granted, this paradigm will likely remain harmless, but can you see the danger?) Now I’m stuck with a paradigm I don’t even know I agree with, don’t know I can change and won’t know how it’s going to change me. Currently, almost everybody falls prey to this phenomenon, which is terrifying.

A paradigm should be a flexible entity, able to shift, grow, shrink, even disappear. If I was exercising my Assignee’s Prerogative I would say my “Prostitution Paradigm” is that they exist, I don’t have to bother with them, so I don’t. If I ever do, then I guess I will. This, in our current reality, is unacceptable. Our paradigms must be known. How are we to know who you are if we can’t know what you think? Furthermore, due to the long rampant influx of generated opinion, our paradigms are the facts. Our opinions become the object. We have become unable to separate our associations from our subjects. Our beds are this, our beds are that. Prostitution is this, prostitution is that. We must communicate every experience, if even to ourselves, because we have been indoctrinated to categorize everything. It is just how we relate sociologically. Language is partly to blame too, but let us get into the philosophical habit now of remembering that words are just symbols for the ideas they represent. Therefore, we don’t support the war but we support the troops. We abhor murder as executed by group A and tout group B heroes for doing the same thing. We drive home drunk and smash up our bumper sticker that reads “Support the war on drugs.” We are unable to even recognize the ‘double-think’⁹ of our everyday life.

Humans don’t bother to think. They just regurgitate what they’ve already decided and they're more than happy to bark out fabricated ideas without even contemplating the “why.” It doesn’t have to continue this way. That little word “why” is the key. Asking why leads to the places opinion is born. Asking why an opinion exists leads to measuring it’s value. Knowing the value will help you decide if it’s time to change your mind or attempt to change someone else's. Logic and reasoning can help us along the way to bypass the traps of language and work only with concepts.

8David Kelly, “The Art of Reason.”

9George Orwell, 1984

2. The Black Sheep says, "No!"

This is chapter two of Anti-Social Engineering the Hyper-Manipulated Self

~2~

The Black Sheep says, “No!”

Human ability to interfere with our own ideas gives us the unique power to work against ourselves or defy what nature would likely do. It doesn’t seem logical when stated as such, nevertheless, to date, we are the only species we know of to act in this way. Through my interests, hobbies and eventually my studies since 2001 I have come to understand at least a part of why this has happened, how it works and what can be done to help facilitate the necessary corrections. I am not alone in claiming this feat, there are many books, films and classes that can help you find peace, understanding, knowledge, strength, God, authenticity, whatever it might be that you find yourself lacking. In modern times, there are many self-help type books and seminars, but for thousands of years humans have attempted to gain such knowledge through their myths and rituals. The philosophy I'm presenting should prove to be more of a habit of consideration than a recipe for success. Success is a matter of opinion and we are primarily concerned with fact. This is of a different sort of “self-help” type information, it doesn’t promise to give any warmth, hope or even strength. It is quite probable that some readers may even become upset with the understanding that can be achieved by the following chapters, for it is within you that it must be found.

...and we, you and I, my friend, are a mess!

Einstein has famously said, “Imagination is more powerful than knowledge.” While I believe this to be true, neither is going to work without the other. However, if you flip the statement inside out it becomes more relevant to our discussions. “Denying imagination is more damaging than denying knowledge.” The former is a failure to look to the future while the latter is a failure to learn from the past. Balance is required and while I'm sure that Einstein knew this as well, it is a lack of this balance that haunts our progress now. An “imagination failure” is, at the least, counterproductive to growth and its most extreme, life threatening. A failure to recognize knowledge can pose the same threats but it is how we look differently at these two traits that reveals the heightened dangers of denying imagination. When one denies the past one, is destined to repeat it by failing to analyze and understand past mistakes. When one denies the future one denies any chance to help shape it, by failing to recognize the possibilities. With this in mind, let's examine the four attitudes one can adopt toward change.

There are those of us who don't even want to hear it, whatever it is. For these people there is no hope. If you have decided, without yet knowing the new idea, that you aren't going to even entertain the possibility, for any reason, you are destined to fail. Those of us who can't see the opportunity, cannot take advantage of it. This may seem natural in life, after all, everything ends, dies or otherwise ceases to be. This much is true, evolutionarily speaking, systemically speaking, Universally speaking, there is only one rule, “If evolution is required for survival, you must change or die.” Ideas and imaginations are not exempt from this rule. The difference is, with an idea we have the option for an instant shift. Whereas, biological evolution requires force from the environment and time. Our mental evolution of ideas can be adapted, with or without our efforts. Knowledge is knowledge because we know it, imagination is what takes us to new knowledge. If you are opposed to this growth or exploration you are opposed to life, it is curious why you even continue to take part in it at all. This is not to say that there are not ideas that are terrible and we should immediately dismiss, but to deny knowledge without even hearing it is rather unfathomably stupid.

Some of us may listen to an idea with no pronounced notions about the soundness of any correct feeling about the idea. Yet, for these people, it is the source of the idea alone that creates the resistance. While it is important to consider the source when contemplating new information, one mustn't automatically dismiss it solely on the basis of source. Adopting this attitude toward change would make one no less ignorant than the previous person who wouldn't entertain the idea at all. Or it could be that you are not denying the idea, but blindly adopting it on the basis of source. This behaviour is no less dangerous but is more common, for instance, in young people searching for identity. Often, with teenagers, ideas and ideals change as often as hairstyles or musical tastes. As we age, settling into our decisions, getting wiser, collecting knowledge and turning away from imagination, we develop an attitude toward new ideas that identify with the bulk of the population.

For the most part we all face each and every decision based on our appraisal of what we would consider, “the entire situation.” (That is to say, “Our appraisal of the entire situation, as far as we can tell.”) This behaviour makes perfect sense as it ensures that we do the best we can, deciding what is best for ourselves. The choices we make between accepting or denying new ideas define what we are today and what we can become tomorrow. Any bias we have creates resistance, which in turn, impedes performance. The open mind can approve of resistance if it is deemed necessary only if it hasn't already denied the option and is aware of the option in the first place. We will see in the pages that follow, we must either know things, believe things or not believe things. If we know things, then they are, even if they are only thoughts there is no question or choice. If we are asked to imagine, or believe something, we must decide what we are going to do with this information, despite it not being different in any substantive way from that which we claim to know. If we are going to decide, it just makes sense to have all the facts possible.

Consider this book a primer that, in plain and efficient language, with a tireless commitment to reason, can provide you with nothing less than an original point of view. Imagine it as a way to find a place to come from that will, if you need it to, change the way you experience everything. The philosophy represents a new standard by which you can measure truth or worth and thereby decide smartly, or not at all. After we’ve established the standard, we will use it to re-examine our realities. Other “procedural manuals” are composed by authors often specializing in one discipline. Many of these fine lessons illumine my chapters. The difference being that we will be examining these lessons from both sides of the story and ultimately from within ourselves.

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The term “Authentic Self” is valid and there is certainly a very real opportunity to make money by selling pathways to it, but the definition being touted by its proponents is inaccurate. So you have Dr. Phil talking about Authentic Self as “who you were created to be instead of who you were taught to be...” You may have seen Eckhart Tolle, spiritualist and author on the Oprah Winfrey show teaching that our ego’s are products of our experiences and possibly should not be trusted, certainly at the least scrutinized. Both basically the same argument, ‘you are a product of your paradigms and they require evaluation.’ It turns out that we agree with each other on this point. The problem with many of these other works is that there is still a leap of faith insisted upon us. Not that my issue is that Dr. Phil uses the word “created,” (he could after all mean ‘biologically created,’) or that Mr. Tolle goes on to re-interpret the New Testament Bible, attempting to apply validity to his theories. I’d be guilty of wearing the same blinders as they if I were to argue with them and I’m not here to take anything from anyone. (None of us can prove or disprove the existence of God.) Is a classical psychotherapist’s opinion any more valuable than a spiritualist if the topic is the human worth of globalization with centralized governance? What if we ask these two to help determine the value of truth versus the value of selling books?

The individualistic approach of this “21^st century” new age self-help movement, also denies much of the source of our self-defeating behaviour, namely the influence of society. It’s important to stress that I am not claiming that the tenets of any particular faith are invalid, I’m arguing that the requirement of faith in order to explain fact is. (Besides, you’re going to find that even the facts are fantastic enough...) Further to this question of psychological vs. philosophical authenticity, even from the academic crowd, it seems that the determination of the self from the self continues to dominate the field. In a 2008 paper called The Authentic Personality: A theoretical and Empirical Conceptualization and the Development of the Authenticity Scale, published in the Journal of Counselling Psychology Vol. 55, No. 3, the authors attempt to quantify and qualify “Authenticity.” While it is the most recent and scientific paper available on this subject it continues to completely miss the philosophical questions of self and determines that only we can decide if we are being authentic to ourselves. While this paper does address what it calls, “accepting external influence” and is agreeably concerned with authenticity as integral to well-being, it does not, at any moment, in any way, address the value of addressing social engineering. The paper essentially concludes that if influence is internalized, to deny this influence is to alienate the self in an internal conflict that leads to psychopathology (mental problems.) While I essentially agree with this determination, this psychological point of view fails to look outwardly at any general causation. I have to ask, “What if external influences are lying to you?” “What if you don't know what it is you believe?” “What if you are lying to yourself because of submitting to external forces?” These are the types of questions that psychology cannot address except through trusting you know what is best for you.

You are now, and will remain eternally, entitled to believe whatever nonsense you like. You’re going to do it anyway. You can’t help it. It comes at you from all angles, twenty-four hours a day. Don’t bother trying to blame T.V. or other modern distractions for the consistent barrage of often questionable information. It’s been this way for all of recorded history. This is right, this is wrong, this was bad, this will be good, you are this, I can’t be that... Only the delivery vehicles have changed. It is now systemic. It is automatically ingrained, as you are, after your birth, by practice and by influence, dragged unhappily away from purity and into hyper-reality. As are your children, as are your grandchildren, until someone, perhaps the black sheep, says, “No!” Being the black sheep may not make you popular, but it is helpful, even to those who judge you, if they are wrong thinking. The black sheep of the world may be counter-culture but they are also our pioneers. We may mock them, we might avoid them or disassociate ourselves from them, yet without them we wouldn't be challenged to change or pushed into new paradigms. I'd like to propose that there is a twenty-first century movement afoot made up entirely of black sheep, or perhaps sheep of many colours. At this point in our history these sheep all have the same message for the flock, “Beware! Beware! The end is near.” This is not a message I particularly subscribe to but I do agree with many of their observations. These observations will become self evident as we begin to understand how it is these problems are the reality facing us. Modernity, complexity, accountability, influence, greed, prejudice, these are the same old conspiracies of the real world.

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Have you ever thought about why it is that “reality” must be taught? Furthermore, why is it that what we learn is so very often different from what we use? Who decided that the lessons we receive are better than the pure existence we are borne into? Have you ever wondered about the origin of the rules: how or why a particular, seemingly unconscious moral finds it’s way to be expressed through your personality? Do you have the courage to take a long look at ideas that go directly against what you’ve come to understand as truth? Can you summon the foresight to imagine that you are not, in fact, fully in charge of your thoughts, then contemplate what that means? These are not light questions and shouldn’t be thought of as such. They are extremely and equally powerful personal affronts. They are akin to the great questions of all time, “Why are we here?” “Is there a God?” “What is my purpose?” There are tangible answers to be found within this new awareness. Not that anyone but you could decide upon them but everyone deserves the opportunity to understand themselves and their environments. If the veil of other people’s thoughts and opinions can be seen, they can be made transparent. Then you can, perhaps for the first time in your life, make up your own mind.

The idea of “authenticity” seems to counter the idea of “influence.” Philosophical authenticity has its roots in self awareness and one would be well served to develop an appreciation for this viewpoint. Although our modern version of authenticity has been defined by the existentialism of the last few centuries it is an idea as old as Philosophy itself. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not worth living.” While you could argue this statement in many different ways the theme of Socrates' words rings true. One cannot be one's self if one does not know one's self. The value of authenticity becomes determinable when we separate our original ideas from the ones we have “borrowed.” The best means to accomplishing this goal is via the practise of philosophy.

The word ‘philosophy,’ like a lot of words, has more than one definition. We are concerned with mainly three: 1.) A person “does” philosophy by logically examining ideas with fair but critical eye. (Using logic and reasoning.) 2.) A person “has” a philosophy, an outlook, a position, an opinion on any particular subject. (Paradigm.) 3.) Calmness in temper and judgement. (To be philosophic is to be coolly contemplative.) The goals of philosophy are the goals of this book. If ever there was a methodology of mental existence worth exploring or an attitude that made sense to adopt, it would be a product of philosophy.

In a way, the film The Matrix, as depicted in the Wachowski brothers’ trilogy of films, is true. Not that humans are full grown embryonic batteries fulfilling some necessary mechanistic energy need, rather that humans go through the motions of life, barely contemplating the steps we take, nor why we take them. That is not to say we don’t plan things. We do, despite our plans not necessarily being in our best interest. Yet even our plans are not our own, in most instances. Within this “Matrix,” there are forces that, by being aware, we are able to have some form of control, or more precisely, a usable understanding of the true nature of reality. Unfortunately, I’ve not yet figured out how to warp time or space like Neo and Agent Smith, (see next book.) I can tell you that most modern humans are in a near constant state of trance and you can use nifty “Jedi mind tricks” in your daily lives, in much the same way as these tricks are used upon you.

The popularity of the ideas expressed in the Matrix films, the paranoia epitomized at the Y2K non-phenomena and the events that unfolded on Manhattan Island on September 11th, 2001 are social manifestations of forced paradigm shift. The term paradigm shift was coined by Thomas Kuhn in the Structure of Scientific Revolutions. It is used to describe a broad stroke “changing of minds” on any given idea. For instance; Before air travel was common the idea of getting from Europe to America in one day was unthinkable. These paradigm shifts can also be different ways of exposing the lack of control we have over our own existence. In the Matrix films, every human, thinking he or she is alive, is actually the product of a dream, controlled by a computer program with all the events of a life predetermined. At midnight January 1st, 2000, no planes fell out of the sky, no bank machines started spewing money due to the roll-over of “old” computer clocks. Almost nothing out of the ordinary happened. Yet, it was all we could talk about, millions of dollars were spent preparing for it and millions of dollars were made selling the fear of it. In Manhattan, on September 11th, 2001 a lot of minds were changed all over the world on a good number of ideas. Since that day, minds continue to change and be changed to such a marked degree that it may someday be hailed as the largest contributor to the new Enlightenment. Yes, we are in a new Enlightenment. Exciting, isn’t it?

The word “enlightenment” indicates that, where once there was some knowledge lacking, it has now been developed. This does not always mean that you have learned, or otherwise sussed out some previously unknown answers. It means that where once there was nothing, there now is something. For instance, believing that the events of September 11^th, 2001 were the result of Al Qaeda hatred for America is one thing, but understanding that America built and funded Al Qaeda is something else. Those of us watching the World Trade Center towers collapse live on television were of a very different mindset than those of us who understood later how, architecturally speaking, these collapses were, in not impossible, extremely unlikely. This says nothing of what it means that these collapses, did in fact, occur. Enlightenment is a product of time and reason, as such it seems inevitable, however strange it seems during the shift. Often, we don't know it's happening until it's over.

The place where many of your decisions are made is built from concepts that have been exposed to you. Some things you will have decided upon but for a large part, you know things because somebody wanted you to. Accepting this as fact is a good and necessary start. However, it is as liberating as it is frightening to take the next step and ask, “Is it right?” This is where the argument currently begins and ends. For you will fight forever with the demon and angel on your respective shoulders, trying to separate ideas from ideals, with the confusion that clouds your mind from years of indoctrination. Herein lies an unfortunate Human truth: Until there is a drastic change not only in what we think, the way we think, as well as the way we learn to think, the deciding over ideas/ideals will remain left to opinion, be it falsely developed, socially engineered or naturally exposed. It was this belief, through my discovery of self, what self entails and by my own curiosity that I began to uncover what I might come to believe if left to my own devices. Is that not our ultimate goal, to make up our own minds and be correct?

~ ~ ~

In the nineties, in my hometown, we experienced an explosion of information. It might have occurred earlier for you, but for my family, 1995 was the year we got the internet and doubled our cable TV channels. There seemed to be a myriad of distractions on television, a channel for everything and a simple name for each: The Food Channel, The History Channel, The Speed Channel, etc. In 1995, online, there didn’t seem to be much more than websites catering to the novelty of the internet itself. The internet was another new idea to absorb, and I, along with everyone else, was making it up as I went. Through this new, steady stream of information I began to unconsciously expose myself to alternative concepts. Then I began, out of interest, to seek them out. I didn’t have to look very hard or long to find a plethora of viewpoints evolving from without and within, which is in and of itself an important lesson. This broadening of the mind is typical of young people, particularly when they move out of the home to go to college, only in this instance, “the college” comes to us.

The hardest mind to change is your own, not because you’re right or wrong, but because you’re proud, vain and lazy. This leads to the conclusion that the most logically open minded approach to that which must be left to opinion for lack of empirical fact, is one where no decision need be made. This philosophy dares to leave the question open ended until any or all evidence has been presented. It states, in the absence of assurance, that “It’s okay to not know,” and unlike the humanist movement, it refuses no claims - be they spiritual leanings or supernatural curiosities. (Humanism is a rationalistic outlook that denies that which can't be proven. For instance, it denies the existence of God.)

The ultimate viewpoint is that where assignment in unnecessary. When this viewpoint is assimilated to the point of replacing the varied, yet somehow narrow, viewpoints of modern societies, anything will be possible. I call it Assignee’s Prerogative. It means you’re aware that you give your paradigms their amount of power. Awareness of Assignee’s Prerogative has been dubbed “Authentic Self” and I’m happy with this term as well, I just defer to the causation . Assignee’s Prerogative reminds the Authentic Self of how and why it became established.

The inciting incident that set me on the path to this conclusion came in the form of documentaries I watched in 1995. The Learning Channel and The Discovery Channel seemed to me to be at a loss for programming, and would often repeat the same shows, or at least the same subjects. Through these programmes with titles like, “The Message of the Sphinx and “The Quest for the Lost Civilization.” I came to learn of Graham Hancock, Robert Bauval, Dr. Robert Schoch and John Anthony West. (These specials were based on books of the same names.) These men, some being Scientists, some investigative authors, were studying subjects that had interested me for years, but they were looking at things with “new eyes” and came to conclusions that I found fascinating. Briefly, these men, each in their speciality, had found some seemingly unrelated observations that came to a consistent conclusion when compared with each other. What this comparison claimed was that our ideas about ancient time-lines are most likely vastly out of kilter, at least in terms of the amazing ancient monuments of our planet.

John Anthony West noticed one day, while looking at photographs of the stone enclosure that surrounds all but the front face of the Sphinx, that the wall had an undulating profile of wear indicative of weathering by water. As the story goes, he took his photograph, covered the head of the Sphinx with a post-it note and showed it to some Geologists asking, “What type of weathering is seen here?” Without fail the Geologists would claim, “This is perfect example of rock wear due to heavy rains.” Mr. West would then peel off the post-it note covering the head of the Sphinx and the Geologists would say, “Oh,” and that was about all. No one wanted to play ball with his theory until he found an open minded Geologists named Robert Schoch. The two men went to the Giza Plateau and did extensive studies of the Sphinx and its enclosure. They found what they considered irrefutable evidence, and to this day, the only rebuttal has come in the form of disbelief, a seeking for more physical evidence beyond that of geology, rather than a denial of the science Dr. Schoch was presenting. Geologists, for the most part would defer, no matter how intrigued, to the Archeologists who would only accept something tangible, like a piece of pottery from the proposed time frame, as proof. The inner workings of the how, when and why of the Sphinx weather wearing pattern came through the teamwork of imagination, astronomy and climatology by Robert Bauval and Graham Hancock. They started to poke around with the obvious question, “So when were there torrential rains (or any form of consistent rain) on the Giza Plateau?” The answer found in climatology models was that of around ten thousand BC to twelve thousand BC. The argument of these for men then became that if the Sphinx enclosure suffered such noticeable weathering it must have been constructed well before the rainy period. Therefore, the Egyptologists who claim the Sphinx was built around four thousand B.C. must be incorrect and in all likely-hood that would be the time that the stone creature was remodelled or repaired. Furthermore, it turned out that during this proposed, much older, time frame, the Sphinx would face the star constellation Leo (the Lion.) Robert Bauval believed this to be further proof of the true age of the Sphinx.

Now, I freely admit, that at this time, and for no short period afterwards, I was downright gullible. To be honest, I, like my son admitted to me recently, like knowing secrets, even if they’re not true. I have come to be a much better scrutineer since those days, but only very recently. I was of the opinion that if these Scientists, even if being persecuted by fellow Scientists, were underdogs and should be rooted for, believed and trusted. So I did. I became excited at the knowledge I could absorb. I began watching the excellent program NOVA on PBS. I began studying physics, cosmology, psychology, philosophy. I made myself familiar with ancient cultures, ancient practices. I began to wonder about the stranger things in life, God, Aliens, Atlantis, existence itself.... I began to seek out knowledge of these subjects through empirical science wherever possible. For instance, Physicist Stephen Hawking proved in a very brief paper that some things can escape the gravitational pull of black holes. This discovery, like the weathering of the Sphinx enclosure are two examples of ideas we used to have and are unable to have anymore. We were wrong. If we were wrong about the age of the Sphinx and about the inescapability of black holes, what else are we wrong about? I didn’t know it at the time, but the decision not to decide was staring me in the face. Is it not better to just let information in and not bother to judge whether it is true? Truth of the easily proven is most often self-apparent and each of us will decide what leaps of faith we are prepared to take. (Assignee’s Prerogative.) More and more as Science progresses the list of things we take on faith is getting shorter and the list of empirical fact grows.

As much time as I spent studying Hawking, Sagan or any of the classic scientific papers, I also read Castaneda, Von Daniken and the more fringe theorists, because who am I to argue that these are ridiculous fantasies? Let’s not forget that fiction can also teach you a lot about reality; Huxley, Orwell, Camus, Sagan, Asimov. More recently, since the moment my curiosities began to develop a directionality, I have had to further hone my studies. I found that I could notice and comprehend these more alternate concepts, even appreciate their validity, but I couldn’t prove or even express any real understanding. Thus the study of Philosophy and the use of symbolic logic came into my life. It is hoped that by the end of this book you will have learned enough about doing philosophy to have developed at least an appreciation of its utility. For me, studying philosophy was a necessity, but for you I hope it is a pleasure. Please don’t let the algebraic look of logic frighten you. The letters and symbols used in logic are representative of ideas, not the words that represent the ideas and we will be merely scratching the surface. These formulations (called syllogisms,) will be used sparingly and explained well in plain language. I find one of the more fun aspects of this book is that once you wrap your mind around these ideas you do feel somewhat empowered and as I hinted at earlier, I’m sure you’ll find reality to be as entertaining as any imagination.

~ ~ ~

I happen to believe that a God in my Universe makes sense. I don’t know if any interpretation of who or what God is that has yet or will ever be expounded is correct. I only have the argument that there can be no effect without cause. What caused God is not a concern for me, as where my God resides is also where I allow logic to break down. As I am aware of the duality of the Universe, (something that is empirically provable IE: matter/antimatter,) there must be a degree of opposition. If there is opposition then it should be possible for my God to reside outside the “rules of existence.” We will get into this philosophical theism with more detail later, but for now, understand that whether or not I believe in God shouldn’t be part of your decision to accept or deny my philosophy. (If it is then you really need to keep reading.) Besides, I haven’t always believed in God. As a teenager, perhaps because I was a teenager, like so many others filled with angst and disillusionment, I spent many years as an existentialist atheist of sorts. Perhaps someday some new information or theory will change my mind again, or even confirm my current indulgence.

To reiterate, and hopefully encapsulate, time is going to change you as it does all things. It does so by changing your opinion about what you thought you knew and as change is the only thing that remains constant, to be narrow-minded in your approach is counter-productive, perhaps even to be “working against life.” The ultimate open mind is achievable and this is not an unreasonable thing to strive for. Prove what can be and only decide on the unprovable when you must. Strive to always consider things from your own, original viewpoint. At first it sounds so simple, but as you will learn, it takes remarkable effort to sweep out the cobwebs created by outdated modes of thinking. We must purge any old misconceptions and formulations. We must first gain an understanding of what many will find to be a variety of seemingly unrelated subjects from psychology to advertising, philosophy to physics, politics to personality. We need to have a shared vocabulary of concepts that are already in our toolkit or we won’t be able to get any work done. I humbly submit my interpretations as an “instruction manual” for individual social responsibility. This is a pathway to virtue. I realize the awesome arrogance of this goal but please remember that few of these ideas are original. I’ve just assembled a workable collection of concepts to a conclusion that, while productive and logical, is clearly not yet the norm of society. I believe it should be.

It's not only ideas and reactions that are not your own, it's everything, including language. Often, you’re surprised to find what a word actually means when you ignore what you’ve always thought it meant. For instance the word, “Conspiracy” (taken from the French, it literally means “to breath together”) was in no way attached to its modern negative connotation when born in the fourteenth century until it became married to the concept of “Assassination” in the twentieth. Originally conspiracy was understood as just “to plan or plot, together.” You could conspire to have your family survive the winter after a failed crop. As you can see, it fits well, but the assignation of the negative concept overwrites our past understanding and produces a new opinion of the way the word should be used. Soon thereafter, we will have taught our children about conspiracy, they won’t even be aware that it was once clear of any negative OR positive attachments. ‘Conspiracy’ had a much longer peaceful connotation that it’s latter punished one. Such is the difference between Assignee’s Prerogative and our current insisted upon reality. It is no longer required that we be slaves to the unknown constituents of our paradigms.

We have a choice, let's learn to use it.

4. The Way of the Why and the Death of a Pig

Once you understand paradigms and what their existence means you are in possession of a primer to deeper understanding. You can now begin rustling around in your own ideas. Kicking over the stones of paradigm to expose associations. You can use the knowledge of these things to solve problems perhaps you didn’t even know you had. There are always reasons for behaviours, habits, phobias, prejudices, fears, etc. Sometimes they are purely chemical, natural responses such as fight or flight, or imbalances of hormones that could exemplify the cause(s). More often these responses are just the result of a self-defeating paradigm but we mustn’t forget that there are always unknowns. Later we will discuss some of the unknowns that are now known but these are the influences that are not paradigms and are therefore, outside our jurisdiction.

Even the most aware of us fall prey to the unconscious placement and/or demonstration of counterproductive opinion. Contemplation is the way to catch yourself. Consider our earlier example of prostitution. Is prostitution right, wrong, just, cruel, immoral or natural? Why do you have that opinion and why do you have any opinion? Does it feel to you that your position is a fair and/or appropriate way to be thinking? Does it make sense, do you have specific experiences, or other reasons to feel the way you do? Are you only having an emotional reaction? What associations are connected to your thoughts about prostitution? Perhaps you have no opinion on prostitution. If you look at it as merely a fact, it simply is. If you have no relationship to it you have no decision to make. Yet person after person will decide that they do have an opinion without the need for one. Most often this unnecessary paradigm comes from our rendition of morality. Some people, lacking in their understanding, vehemently argue points for which they have absolutely no reason to believe. Perhaps ignorance isn’t bliss. We'll examine this tendency soon enough.

Of course, it’s easy to say that understanding is empowerment. Understanding even the simplest subject to it’s fullest extent is not easily achieved. The enlightenment you seek will hide very well and the enlightenment you need will present itself whether or not you want it to. How many of us have said something stupid to someone we love for no good reason? We hit our thumb with the hammer and it’s our wife’s fault for wanting the picture hung? The paradigm you need to work on will rear its ugly head and you will react. It’s too late to address it now, just remember to contemplate it later and say, “I’m sorry” to your wife.

Tibetan monks, monks of all sorts spend their lives dedicated to seek out the deep, true, pure understanding that is appropriate for their efforts. An alcoholic may have to hurt himself or the ones he loves before he comes to realize it’s the booze that makes him abusive and/or destructive. It doesn’t matter how understanding is achieved despite how honourable you consider one methodology over another. It would be mere speculation for you to assign importance to someone else’s understanding. A monk may die an old man without being satisfied by his lifelong achievements. An alcoholic may, in one moment of clarity, change his entire life, even deciding to attempt to correct the mistakes in his past, changing the lives of others. So it seems that it is natural for us to be presented with solutions. We get in the way of ourselves and others by expressing opinion. The monk who cannot achieve enlightenment is the monk who doesn’t believe it’s possible for him to. The alcoholic who cannot control his drinking, doesn’t want to. Short of a lifetime of meditation or life altering emotional instances how can we eke out any palpable self control? How can we recognize the need for change when in the midst of the paradigm that is lacking? How can we have 20/20 hindsight, in the present? As silly as that sounds I think it is the attainable goal of the new modern enlightenment. Hindsight always seems to make so much sense that we wonder, looking back, how we missed the revelation while we were in the thick of it.

To be philosophically contemplative is to have a present sight, an Awareness with a capital A. The "Authentic Self" used like a separate entity, you looking at yourself. Maximum awareness, purposeful contemplation, flexible paradigms while the calling cards of existentialism are not limited to that somewhat misunderstood disposition. Existentialism emphasizes the individual as a free and responsible agent as existence itself is all that is “known.” A philosophy that I think sounds good on paper, and to a certain degree do subscribe to but is not without it’s pitfalls. Unfortunately over the course of the years since the French revolution, the common opinion of existentialism has gone from “seeing things as they are rather than as they should be,” to pure nihilism. Nihilism or “nothingism” expounds that existence is meaningless, substance-less, senseless and useless. This misconception was drawn out of the interpretation of Existentialists as Athiests, which many of the first were. Nevertheless, one can be a responsible Existentialist with or without believing in God. A Nihilist, by definition, must be godless. An Existentialist simply believes, “There are things that are and I'm going to do my best work in this perceivable reality.” A Nihilist believes there are only the things that are and there are no possibilities beyond that. These two groups are basically looking at the same phenomenon, “life” as the amount of existence we are known to have. Existentialism shrugs off the unanswerable questions and only speaks to what we can actually know. (We will later discuss what it means to know something.) Nihilism presumes that what we can actually know is all there is, and as we wish to achieve the ultimate open mind, we shouldn't entertain such restrictions too seriously.

The distinctions between existentialism and nihilism, while useful for understanding how faith is irrelevant to responsibility, can also help explain the difference between faith and religion. Religion is the organization and control of faith. The Existentialist has no use for much of what religion enforces. For if you are a free and responsible agent you can think as you see fit. Religion, while it may be adopted or ignored by the Existentialist, insists upon it's own unique dogma. Oddly, this same insistence is used by the Nihilist, paradoxically to denounce any particular adherence to faith.

Also, and we will discuss this further, the people who desire control over you don’t want you to be a free and responsible agent. They may even argue that it’s impossible to be both simultaneously. If you are free, it is understood that you are accountable, but to whom and by what standard? You can have faith, as you are a free agent but how, if you don’t attach yourself to some sort of standard of measurement, (morality,) will you know if you’re being responsible? If you’re being held responsible how are you free? It’s easy to see where the paradox lies but it gets even worse. Existentialism is too convenient. You have the beauty of freedom and the safety of responsibility (provided it’s measure is somehow qualified and quantified.) However, it’s a sort of a lazy temperament, literally hopeless. You just let everything slide by, not that you’re incapable of highs or lows, but that you are accepting of them regardless of merit. I say, keep the calm, analytical nature of the spirit of existentialism and dismiss the lack of imagination expressed as being a responsible agent of change. Inspiration comes from without. There are too many unknowns for classic existentialism to be useful without due diligence. We still need to separate existentialism from humanism further. Those unknowns, the ideas we are unable to yet explain, keep getting in the way. Humanists claim total responsibility. They say, ‘There is an explanation for everything. Anything that is beyond our explanation is either discoverable or it doesn’t exist.’ Our new Existentialism needs to loosen philosophy to the acceptance of the existence and influence of the unknowable. It needs to also develop a direction, a goal conducive to that of our species. Namely, the expected continuation of said species. Most of us don't even contemplate existence. It is not enough to just think about being, we should be thinking about being well. Furthermore, as we begin to understand these concepts better, we’ll see that true freedom is the default position, it can’t be given or taken. We are all born free in terms of what we can think. True responsibility is to accept that freedom and use it to your utmost, despite the absurd influence of the world.

‘Memory’, ‘experience’, and trust in ‘lessons learned’ are the building blocks of paradigms but language is the most powerful trap that controls them. We think in terms for ideas. They don’t have to be words. Symbols and signs for instance, are equally powerful. They can be used to induce memory, opinion, even experience but they must be achievable expressions. We understand complicated concepts but only if we can express them. If we can’t express them, we can’t understand them. Language is necessary at this point in our evolution. Perhaps someday all communication will transcend language the way emotions like love and fear can. Until then we must use language to both express and comprehend.

Questions are the vehicle that will drive you to understanding any definition of terms further. Sometimes the questions will impose themselves as banalities, “White or brown bread?” or as necessities, “How am I going to survive on this deserted island?” Sometimes you will desire answers and seek them out willfully, “Who am I going to vote for?” or unexpectedly, “Who the hell is in bed with my wife?” The point is that if you’re asking the question it is because you want to make a decision, form an opinion, set or change a paradigm. It doesn’t matter if you’re asking the question of yourself or someone else, be warned that you might get answers you don’t like. The knowledge you can glean from self-examinations can also be less than fruitful. It could even be that you are ill-prepared to deal with the things that you come to learn. This is no reason to fear change. In fact, as we’ll discuss later, you should seek it. Exercise your ability to change your mind because it’s healthy. Examine your paradigms because it’s beneficial to know yourself or at least, the self. Be aware of the mind-set of others as well, for as assuredly as there are people who seek change there are those who despise it, fear it and may well destroy its chances of success. Quentin Tarantino has a great line in the film “Four Rooms,” his character claims his wise, old grand-pappy used to say it, “The more apt you are to make declarative statements, the more likely you are to look foolish in retrospect.” Or as I sometimes remind my sons, “If you don’t answer anything you can’t be wrong.” Sometimes you have to choose your moments.

Paradigm resistance is as rampant as paradigm ignorance. Somewhere between paradigm resistance and utilization is paradigm tolerance. This is when you know the paradigm is unhealthy, (unproductive, illogical, destructive, etc.) yet you do nothing to correct it, either in yourself or others. For instance, you have probably known someone that you couldn’t really agree with because of his paradigms, yet you considered him as a friend because you couldn’t blame him and he wasn’t doing anyone specific harm. He could be almost completely incapable of an original thought but he’d give you the shirt off his back. So he is a “decent,” “normal” guy, but the type of person who sleepwalks through life. A worker bee. A drone. He parrots out opinion and seeks it out in others. He begins sentences with phrases like “What do you think of...” and ends them with, “Am I right?” He probably slaps you too hard on the back if you’re a man and makes sure you know he’s censoring himself if you’re a lady. Maybe you work with him and his name is Dennis. Maybe you think the patience you demonstrate in not administering daily admonishing alone warrants entry into Heaven, possibly sainthood. (You may be right! You’re the one that knows him.) You may even catch yourself thinking, “if it wasn’t for the fact that we have to work together I wouldn't even speak to you.” Yet you tolerate his opinion because the options available are far too daunting to deem effective. Furthermore, if someone was to ask you for a personal reference of Dennis, your response would be glowing. (You lazy cow!) Again you reiterate to yourself, “Dennis is not a bad guy, he's just got paradigm problems.”

Let’s take a look at our good buddy Dennis, keeping in mind that language exploration, paradigm contemplation and “why” are our most valuable tools to understand him. Let’s listen to what he is saying without deciding if it’s true, instead let’s contemplate his paradigms based on the subject. Let's take a look at the internal arguments he uses to make his ideas make sense to him. While we do this, let's not forget, Dennis is our friend, Brother, Uncle, whatever he is in our life, he is part of it. We aren't concerned with whether or not Dennis' ideas are right or wrong, or even what his ideas are. We will be attempting to decifer if the reasons for which he argues his points are valid.

An argument, despite it's modern interpretation, is not a quarrel. In Philosophy an argument is simply one or more premises that lead you o a conclusion. For instance, I think, therefore I am.” One premise, one conclusion. (We can't really deny or confirm this argument, despite it seeming to make sense, this is the point.) The number of premises leading to an argument makes it more difficult to consider, but the rules remain essentially the same; If, at any premise, you find a proposition that does not follow or contribute to the conclusion, then you will be well served to find the entire argument invalid. Here again, I must reiterate, we aren't determining the truth of any conclusion. There are simply certain types of arguments that should be considered automatically, logically invalid and these arguments are known as “Fallacies.” There are many fallacies and most of them are easily recognized in common sense language. We will examine some of these arguments in Dennis.

Dennis holds the door for ladies, obviously ogling. After she is gone, (and hopefully out of ear shot) he makes a suggestive comment that requires your response. (It is far too rude to be printed.) If you react in a negative fashion he might say, “I’m only kidding.” If you don’t laugh, he thinks it has to be because you are in a bad mood. If you disagree that you are in a bad mood, it’s because you’re wrong. “Everybody has bad days,” he says. Now Dennis is a Philosopher! (Phew, an easy out...) By drawing an incorrect conclusion from your reaction, Dennis has illustrated the logical argument named the “Subjective Fallacy,” probably the most common false argumet. Just because you believe something to be true doesn't necessarily make it so.

Dennis feels there is nothing wrong with his appreciation of women because he is a man. He is entitled to his superiority. It is God given. How anyone could argue any different is a sure sign of one of three things in Dennis’ faultless position: 1.) You must be a feminist and are probably a gay hippy. 2.) You must be Godless and are probably evil. 3.) You must be ignorant because anyone with half a brain can just tell that men are superior to women. It’s Nature! In short, Dennis cannot accept other points of view. He can hear them, sometimes he can even comprehend them, but he is not going to change his mind just because of the opinion of someone else. He has, after all, got it all figured out.

One day while leaving work you notice Dennis has a bumper sticker that reads, “Support our troops.” Like an idiot you ask him why we should bother. He says, “Well, 'cause that’s what you do! What? You don’t support the troops?” (Your answer is irrelevant.) Dennis doesn't care to have reasons for thinking the way he does. Recognizing this shortcoming as the stubborn blindness of the programmed is our reward. We don't care even if it is right or wrong to support the troops, for any reason. We only care to keep an open mind, Dennis does not. You ask Dennis what he thinks of the war on terror and he recites the mantra of the middle ground, “Saddam had to be taken out. War is hell but you gotta do what you gotta do. I’m willing to give up some freedoms for security. We’ve all got to do our part. Those guys are crazy... I saw on Fox news...” In addition to being narrow minded subjectivism this argument is an appeal to authority and, in Dennis' case, an appeal to majority.

He supports the troops because not supporting the troops is unthinkable treason! He is unable to even entertain the idea of there being some other paradigm. Without making any sort of decision on the value of supporting the troops, it is possible to dismiss any of Dennis' possible arguments based on the following statement: Dennis doesn't support the government. One cannot support the troops if one does not support the government as the government is what directs the military. The Army doesn't just decide to invade some particular country, they are told to by the government. If you don't support the decision, you don''t support the government or the troops. There is little room for the argument that one can “support the troops, but not support the war.” If this is the case, you are not supporting the troops, you are supporting the trooper and these are not the same things. It is doubtful that Dennis, even if he would entertain this concept, could truly understand it. One has to learn how to think before one starts thinking.

Dennis goes to church fairly regularly. You wouldn't know that he was religious by any aspect of his behaviour. You happen to know this fact because you've known Dennis so long. Because you both live in the same small town, you’ve also seen him drunk on a Friday afternoon, pick up a hooker in a mini-van with a baby seat in the back and drive away. (No, I’m not obsessed with prostitutes, they are just a very common, ancient paradigm that people are affected by and have opinions of.)

All of Dennis’ paradigms are set deep and have hardened into inflexible concrete into which he has carved everything he believes for all to see. He doesn’t know that paradigms exist, he thinks that life is the way it is, because it is. (He’s right, as it is up to him to experience it.) He believes there is nothing wrong with him, it’s the rest of the world that causes any problems he might have.

Everyone has “Dennis-like” traits. Even the most brilliant, open-minded, authentic, contemplative person ever is still going to have moments of bias, misinterpretation, stubbornness or selfishness. We cannot be completely unlike Dennis any more than we can be perfect. We can only strive to be these things, that is to say, if we want to. Dennis, it seems, is happy in his little world. This happiness is quite typical and very real to the person living this way. “Living this way,” is the key phrase of this concept, for this is a way of life, it is not life itself. For instance, if we were to ask Dennis, “Who is Dennis?” it is very likely that he would answer with a listing of what he does. This is a path to understanding the non-thinker. Since the first Enlightenment, humans have been defining who they are by what they do. In doing these things the non-thinker finds happiness, dispersed by unhappiness in the atypical roller coaster ride of modern life. Most people, particularly those of us fortunate to be living in the so-called “first world,” are bodies, busied. If you could sit them down, shut them up and make them think, not about what they do, but who they are, they would find nothing. This realization is the inception of existentialism, “there is only me, there are no answers, I am empty inside.” While this may be a cause for misery, it is from this place that all great things begin. Once one has accepted the able-minded responsibility, one can grow, bloom and find true happiness. After all, it is this emptiness that is the real you, instead of all the notions you have filled yourself up with. This real you is what we should be working on.

How is it that you and Dennis have such different positions on so many topics? Let’s start with Women. Let’s presume that you have a healthy relationship with the opposite sex by the following standard: you are fair. In the past, sometimes the opposite sex may have hurt you but you understand that both sexes can hurt equally so it doesn’t influence your opinion of either. You’ve cared for your oppositionally sexed parent, siblings, lovers, children, friends and they’ve cared for you. You don’t see women as subservient, weaker-than, less-than. No one has ever taught you anything contrary to this position, and if they did, you didn’t listen. Unfortunately, Dennis did listen or otherwise develop this opinions. Likely Dennis has had, at some point in his life, a powerful relationship with someone, something(s) or some situation(s) that established that point of view. It doesn’t mean that his Mother abused him, although we can’t rule that out. It could mean that his Father treated his Mother that way and she accepted it. There are limitless possibilities. Dennis' fallacy here is circular and a non sequitur. Women are, in fact, not lesser than because they have been created lesser than. The logic of this thinking does not follow from one premise to any conclusion.

We’re not here to psychoanalyze Dennis. I, for one, am not qualified. We’re trying to understand Dennis with the tools we have. The point to be taken here is that Dennis’ paradigm inflexibility could be dangerous and counterproductive. We’ve noticed that he has what we consider “issues” and we are attempting to assess them. We’re not doing it for him, we’re doing it for ourselves. His paradigm ignorance is sad and his resistance to change, while typical, is no less pathetic. Thankfully, our knowledge of the power of paradigms can help us understand, hopefully tolerate and possibly even curb his buffoonery.

Through knowing him we can tell Dennis is also a reluctant redneck. As he seems unable to form his own opinions, all of his paradigms are established by outside sources. Therefore the reluctance isn’t real, it’s because he knows that this paradigm is frowned upon and he wants to be liked. He tries to disguise it with back-peddling over his real thoughts, uttered before his weak filter could stop his mouth. So when Dennis makes, for instance, a racist comment he immediately follows it by saying something like, “I'm not racist though, I've just been burned before.” He’ll also tell you one thing and then act out the exact opposite. Actions speak louder than words and as my wise old Mother taught me, “Believe what people show you, not what they tell you.”

Dennis is also a Nationalist, Patriot, Husband, Father, Mason, Bowler, whatever, it doesn’t matter. Therein lies the point, it’s not the who or the what, it’s the why. You can know everything you can observe about a person, you can work with them eight hours a day for five years and strain your eyes from rolling them. You can continue to work with this person, continue to dislike their ideas and possibly develop a negative reaction. You can begin to suffer because of this bonehead at the office but only if you let it happen. A person who doesn’t know about paradigms will always feel that life is something that happens to them, rather than something they make happen. As your awareness grows you understand more and more there are reasons for everything, even why Dennis is such a pain in the ass. It doesn’t mean you have to like him. It doesn’t mean you can or even should try to help him. It means you can find his point of view. You can dig into his “why’s” and have an understanding that could prove useful. You can pick apart his arguments and see if they make sense. You can even be apathetic to his paradigms and use that knowledge to humiliate or annihilate him. How you choose to use your awareness is up to you.

For the sake of our discourse, let’s assume you decide you’re going to steer conversations with Dennis into the areas where these “Why’s” can be discovered. Let’s pretend that you’re motivated not to help him but to maintain your own sanity. You’ve already sussed out what it is about Dennis that drives you crazy now you need to know why it is that he holds those opinions. Over the next days or weeks you try to ask innocent sounding questions that poke around in Dennis’ paradigms of racism, sexism, patriotism, ism-ism and uncover the following: Dennis’ Father was a soldier who was gone a lot and then one day was killed in the line of duty by an Arabic suicide bomber. His Mother was always a good care-giver and stuck by her husband even though when he got drunk he would brag to Dennis and his brothers about having a woman in every port. If his Mother acted hurt, his Father would laugh saying, “You know I’ll always come home to you, Hon!” After his Dad died his Mom worked two jobs to finish raising the kids and Dennis, as the oldest went to work too.

How do you feel about Dennis now? I’m betting that his opinions and actions make some sense, or at least it’s easier for you to know where he’s coming from. Don’t get sucked in, don’t start feeling sorry for Dennis, he doesn’t want any help, remember? There’s nothing wrong with him. Just because you’re empathetic doesn’t make you a sucker. Besides, he has no reason to believe you and you just want to make your life with Dennis’ paradigms easier. You have to follow the logic of each paradigm to it’s very core or it’s of no use, and let’s face it, Dennis’ paradigms are neither logical nor original.

So why is it that we can’t bring ourselves to help Dennis? We’ve established he is unwilling to examine himself so the effect of “beating our head against a brick wall” is certainly a likely deterrent. Beside human laziness we might also feel we are not qualified to help. As I said earlier we are not here to psychoanalyze Dennis. I use the story of Dennis to illustrate that you can use you’re knowledge of paradigms to help you deal with common situations. Dennis, while annoying, is a relatively low threat, so we needn’t interfere for the sake of our conscience or anyone’s well-being. His failure to see the fallacies in his arguments are not likely to be anything more than an annoyance, but what if Dennis was your Nation's President? More realistically, if he was an addict, abusive or otherwise more markedly counterproductive then it might be right or logical to intervene. As it is now, due to our knowledge of Dennis’ paradigms and his ignorance of them, we now may know more about why Dennis is the way he is than he does. We can use this knowledge to begin arguing consciously and introducing him to some new paradigms. Maybe we’ll be successful, probably not. Dennis is fifty years old and set in his ways. If someone wants to learn about the reality of the power of paradigms, then they should be able to and you’d gladly help. So let Dennis have it with both barrels if it’s going to make the difference. If he’s obtuse, be arrogant! There’s still no guarantee it’s going to work but successful interventions happen all the time. You can’t help those who won’t help themselves and you even tried, to be sure. Furthermore, and of the most importance, is that you are now empowered to deal with Dennis, despite wanting to or needing to.

As I stated, we all have inside us at least a part of what we dislike about Dennis. (Some more than others.) Even if you think you are most decidedly not Dennis-like there are things we can learn from the lesson. The fault of a policy of non-confrontation is the rule of “fire together, wire together.” This is the biological part of our associations expressed in a simple idea: The more one thinks the same idea, the more it becomes ingrained and unavoidable. If Dennis keeps thinking within the confines of his dusty old paradigms he will get forever bogged down in them. (He probably is already, he’s so comfy.) You run the risk of doing the same if you don’t confront the problematic paradigms you have. For instance: Why didn’t you use the five years you’ve been working with Dennis to perfect your patience? The difference is that you gave Dennis the opportunity to learn some information that could make a noticeable difference in his life and he rejected it. He’s not going to accept any of this psychobabble, that’s his prerogative and you can blame him no more for that than you can blame a blind man for not being able to see. You, on the other hand, are awake and aware. If you are too squeamish or are just otherwise unable to confront your own paradigms you have no one to blame but yourself. Let’s now begin looking at how minds change and what should change about them.

When I learned that my understanding of ancient Egyptian monuments could be, at the least, partially incorrect I went through a variety of emotive thoughts. (Never forget, we are now ultimately open minded, because for us the facts are still in dispute we remain the resigned undecided.) At first I was in awe. Wow, I thought, that changes everything! (At the time, in my naivete, I just believed it.) I didn’t realize it but I had shifted several paradigms at once. Looking back on it now, it seems to me that I could physically feel the change in my mind, perhaps a slight dizziness. The first paradigm shift that I could discern was the obvious one, “there were civilized people on this planet way before I previously knew.” As I stated, at the time, I just accepted these theories of ten thousand B.C. to be true. (By the way, it’s likely that the theories are true. If ever I must decide, without knowing, I will favour agreeing with them.) Obviously, this idea of “man” being “civilized” earlier sent a fresh jolt to a lot of my paradigms. Surely, it must have touched my ideas about religion, archeology, pre-history, etc.

Then there was the second shift, “If they were wrong about the ages of these monuments, what else are they wrong about?” Which of course enters into my trust paradigms and I begin to wonder about my teachers and other groups that, up until that moment, had been authorities. Then a third shift, “That makes it even less likely for the resources or technology to exist for the construction of these monuments? Or does it?” This one is more the conceptualization of Paradigm without knowing what it was called because it put the onus on me to doubt myself. I had discovered that “facts” could be accepted as such for years by, basically, everyone and then be smashed in one hour long t.v. show. I now knew that I could be duped right along with everyone else. So, how can I say that anything is a fact, anything is known, anything is possible?

Then the final, and most fun shift for a young man, “These guys are just dorks from four different disciplines that looked at something with “new eyes,” drew some conclusions, went hunting for questions that led to those conclusions, and found them. They could have been anybody. They could have been me. It did dawn on me at the time that is was the alternative perception of these men that made the difference. The people that would normally be looking at these sort of questions were finished looking at them a long time ago. Thus, having blinders on is proof that subjects in question should be answered with interdisciplinary considerations. I hadn’t yet heard of “thinking outside the box” but here it had been demonstrated and experienced. It’s important to both consider and employ alternative perception as it forces paradigm shift.

Human history is full of sufferances due to ignoring the worth of keeping an open mind. Alternative perceptions sometimes are scary or embarrassing, depending on how far outside your paradigms you have to stretch and if you are the one asking someone to do the stretching, it can be equally trying. But try you must. Or better yet, as Yoda tells Luke in “the Empire Strikes Back,” “Do not try. Do! Or do not do. There is no try.”

I’m not asking you to convince people that aliens built the pyramids, I’m suggesting that there are people on this planet that would never listen to a word you said if you tried to and that’s illogical. Did IBM know there was going to be a computer revolution and home computers would become as common as toasters? Yes. They knew there a tiny movement afoot that claimed it was coming. Did they believe it was a threat or even possible? No. Apple did, in fact, they set out to make it happen and succeeded.¹⁰ (The beauty of this example is that nobody needed a home computer, Apple created the need by making it useful.) Seiko Japan did the same thing by buying the quartz watch movement that the Swiss didn’t see the value of. (Look at your watch, does it say “quartz?”) Bill Gates bought the DOS operating software that makes “Windows” possible for the price of a decent used car, from a man who couldn’t envision its utility. The list goes on and on but those are instances that had a positive outcome for the people that saw the value of the paradigm shift. The people who couldn’t see the value in these new ideas, yet had the time to think about the paradigm, suffer from Contemplative Paradigm Paralysis, and lost out. (Swiss watch companies have since embraced the quartz movement, but Japan still dominates the timepiece industry. Bill Gates is still in the top ten richest men in the world, almost nobody has heard of the man who invented the DOS operating system.) But what of the dangers of ignoring “crazy new ideas” in everyday life. Not all of us are meant to be on the cusp of innovation. Let’s examine some more mundane degrees of paradigm paralysis.

In Joel Barker’s “The New Business of Paradigms” he relays the following story. One beautiful sunny afternoon, a young man is out for a leisurely drive in his beloved sports car. He is enjoying himself as he speeds along a curvy country road. Suddenly, at the last second, he sees another car coming at him in his lane. He swerves slightly as does the woman who is in his lane. They avoid each other without incident but as the cars pass each other, the woman yells out the window at him, “Pig!” In that instant the young man becomes angry. This woman was in his lane, endangering both of their lives yet she has the audacity to call him a Pig! He has enough time to come up with “Cow!” which he shouts at her before she is out of earshot. He feels a little better because he was able to zing her back then runs directly into the pig that is on the road. He kills the pig, ruins his car and hopefully learns the lesson of his Autonomic Paradigm Paralysis. (Although probably not, it is much more likely that he understands that it was a warning, yet thinks something to the effect of, “How the hell was I supposed to know it was a warning?”) This is the most rampant type of paradigm paralysis. Whereas the aforementioned “contemplative paradigm paralysis” does not present itself as readily or as frequently. They are both equally dangerous, the difference being that you are much more able and likely to do something about Contemplative Paradigm Paralysis because you have the time to. If you have the ability to think about a new paradigm yet still reject it, you have made that decision and have no one to blame for it but yourself. If, however, you have to make an instant decision there is no contemplation and you are less in control. You are reacting from a place that you may or may not have established.

The young man driving made a conclusion that led to an unfortunate event. He misunderstood the intent of the woman coming the other way, most likely out of the common, trance-like paradigm we often experience with repeated activity. In other words, he was on auto-pilot and was used to drivers reacting negatively rather than positively. The lack of assessment and the creation of his anger stem from the same place, habit, (fire together, wire together.) If the young man had time to examine the situation, perhaps he would have realized that it doesn’t really make sense for the woman to be in his lane, yet angry at him. It is a much more likely situation that the scenario that did play out, would. Because the young man has had plenty of experience with being and observing frustrated, angry drivers, his reaction emanates from this ‘driving’ paradigm.

All reactions (that are not ‘fight or flight’ autonomic) stem from Paradigm. You cannot change your reactions without changing your paradigms. For example, a different young man, may have seen the woman coming toward him and respond with curiosity rather than anger, “Why is she in my lane?” This thought implies there is a reason for the fact, it might even be something he wants to know. Perhaps this young man would apply the brakes and even upon hearing the word, “Pig!” consider it a warning that there is a pig on the road. “That certainly would explain why she was in my lane.” This young man’s car would be fine and the pig would live another day. I’d also be willing to bet that this young man would be a lot happier, healthier and more productive in life than the first young man. I’d further wager that the first, typically reactionary young man outnumbers the other, one hundred to one. Changing this ratio is one of the goals of the philosophy presented in this book.

So, what is it we have learned so far? Paradigms are sets of rules that you use to think. Each paradigm is a network of associations on any given topic with which you have some kind of understanding. Paradigms can be experientially created or be ‘taught’ socially by outside sources. They are built of experience, memory and opinion but can most easily be manipulated with language. The examination and evaluation of paradigm is the most powerful tool for understanding and the most commonly used question to do so is “Why?” A paradigm shift occurs when you change your way of thinking about any given topic. This occurs most often when you either don’t have an answer to the “Why?” or when your answer is deemed more illogical than the new paradigm. The ‘why’s’ must be followed to the core of their existence. Remember we are not psychologists or cosmologists! We can no less decide the worth of someone’s mental state than we can truly appreciate the cause of creation. We are not here to answer any impossible questions. We can just accept the unknowns as unknowable at present. We are here to understand ourselves. To understand the “why” of you and I, the “why” of Dennis, the why of the young man driving on the country road, etc.

We have learned that paradigm can be ignored, rejected, absorbed, accepted, tarnished either with or without knowing it’s happening (Autonomic vs. Contemplative.) We can keep our paradigms flexible, even undecided or we can nail them down and stick to it, again with or without awareness. Assignee’s Prerogative, (which may hereby referred to as A.P.) is the understanding and use of paradigm contemplation. We can accept that there are going to be times when we are reactionary but the number and severity of these reactions can be reduced with practice. There are also going to be instances where you can find no answer to the question, “What is the worth of this paradigm?” It’s an acceptance of logic as a personal decision of what it might mean, per paradigm. If that means that we have to make a leap of faith to be comfortable, so be it. I think we should be allowed that privilege as there are many deep running unknowns and we’ve been so wrong, so often before. After all, we have only our perceptions and our paradigms to go on, and there seems to be little to no actual logic being demonstrated by our commitment to them.

There are also paradigms that are going to be harder to shake regardless of our desire to. For example, to this day I harbour a distaste for ‘loud’ people. I am aware of the causation, some of the greatest pains I have felt in my life have been associated with ‘loud’ personalities. Is it logical? Of course not! I’m sure there’s some really groovy loud people out there. But I’m aware of my bias and I can make a concentrated effort to be equally open to loud people. I can realize that these loud people who have hurt me have reasons for being the way they are. It doesn’t make it right or wrong, but understanding paradigms means I pretty much have to forgive them. They’re just like everybody else, they live the life they’ve created. They may or may not be aware of that fact. I am ultimately only responsible for myself.

Paradigm Pliancy, Utilization with a lack of Assignation except when necessary is good, healthy, valid. Paradigm Paralysis, Ignorance and unquestioning Assignation is dangerous, illogical, counterproductive. It is a far better thing to be able to recognize, assimilate and unbiasedly decide for yourself on any given subject than it is to miss, ignore or decide from a place of ignorance, possibly someone else’s. Don’t fear alternative perception, examine it. Notice that I didn’t say Paradigm Rejection or Resistance were either good or bad. That is because it is often just as useful you reject or resist new paradigms contemplatively as you accept them. Take the case of zeppelin travel as an example of a paradigm that proved better to reject, or the medieval idea that bleeding could expunge illness.

Nevertheless, new paradigms will always come from the fringe and so to look out to that fringe is to see the future. It takes only a little imagination to see it clearly and if you use a lot of imagination it’s possible to create it. Life in the fringe is a place where you have nothing to lose, where brave meets crazy and crazy meets ingenious. It’s the only place to be if you want to control yourself and your future.

10Film: “The Pirates of Silicone Valley.”