 In
Reflection: Beliefs at the Core of Possibility Thinking
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
Happy Autumn! As
many of you know, I write new articles every other
month, using the “leap month” to respond to questions
and comments from past articles and suggest ideas in
preparation for those upcoming. This month I have
chosen three questions from readers prompted by last
month’s article in which I laid out 15 core beliefs
rooted in the idea of “possibility thinking”. Enjoy!
Treating rules
with healthy skepticism
Dear Denise, Your writings have had a powerful effect
on our agency and the thinking of our staff. We use
your Cultivating True Livelihood curriculum as the core
of our workshops and job club. I am on board with what
you profess with regard to inspiring people to make
changes in their lives, and being willing to question
the status quo in order to meet those ends. I think we
tend to limit ourselves in this field with our strict
adherence to outdated rules and regulations, and in the
end, it is the people we serve who suffer from the
most. I work in a highly bureaucratic system, and I
suspect this is true elsewhere. I was surprised that in
your list of “Core Beliefs” in last month’s issue there
was no mention of your belief about “the system” and the
conventional rules and bureaucratic thinking that goes
with them. Care to comment?
-
Employment Director, Reno, Nevada
It will not
surprise any of my readers that I believe we need to
treat rules with healthy suspicion and a willingness to
bend them! I think we often allow conventional thinking
and rules to limit our possibilities, where we would be
better off taking a more creative approach. Much to his
chagrin, my husband would probably tell you that I am an
anarchist at heart and that I never believe that rules
are actually meant for me. While there may be some
truth to that characterization, what I am referring to
now is not so much the view of an anarchist so much as
the perspective of a healthy skeptic who does not take
the world at face value, but applies discretion in
looking beyond ordinary convention and practice into the
field of alternative possibilities.
I think many of
you would agree that within the context of most social
service and educational programs, treating rules with
healthy suspicion and a willingness to bend is a
revolutionary stance requiring nothing less than
vigilant attention! We have been taught to follow rules
and not question convention in our households, by
society, in most religious practices, in schools, and in
our workplaces. As we later develop expertise in one
field or another, we take on the culture of that
profession and with it, its tenets and rules. While
this unquestioned rule-abiding stance is rarely a
conscious one, it has profound affect on us as these
tenets become seemingly as inviolable as defying
gravity.
I recently read
that Albert Einstein’s audacious willingness to fracture
any rule was at the core of his genius. He professed in
that when we can’t solve a problem it is often because
we are stuck in a rut of our own making – allowing
unspoken rules and faulty assumptions to become
ingrained patterns in our thinking which we mistake for
truth at the expense of entertaining any conflicting
ideas. Obviously, not all rules and assumptions are bad
and they do not always hinder our progress. They are
more like railroad tracks. If we want to go where the
track goes, they are obviously serving our purposes.
But like destinations without a rail line, some
solutions cannot be reached by following rules and
convention. When that is true, the only way to proceed
is to leave the tracks and make a trail leading to where
you want to go.
A simple but
profound question that deserves ongoing consideration
and discernment is, “Where do our true loyalties lie?”.
Is our allegiance to rules or to relationships? Are we
more devoted to maintaining the status quo or to
continuous learning and improvement? Are we more
faithful to policies and procedures or to widening
perspective through vision? Do we prefer constancy of
caution at all costs or to the necessary risks that come
with growth and change? Is it possible to work within a
system whose funding sources worship at the altar of
what is concrete and measurable and still hold to
aspirations that are invisible and abstract? For the
sake of the people and communities we serve, I certainly
hope so!
In Celebration
of Idealism and Independent Thinking
Dear Denise, I share your
newsletter with my colleagues every month because I
think you have a unique way of spreading hope in what
has become a rather negative work culture. One of my
co-workers recently saw a copy of your article in his
in-box and retorted, “Another article from that
‘idealist’ you enjoy?” While I think he meant it as a
criticism, I took it as an affirmation of what we really
need right now – a generous dose of idealism and
independent thinking to balance the cynicism and
negativity that runs rampant without question. So keep
up the good work and I will continue passing it on!
-
Director of Employment Services, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
I appreciate the
audacity of the reader to not only resist defending
“idealism”, but, on the contrary, to affirm and
celebrate it! Think about it – what is “idealism” but
the willingness to pursue the way one thinks things
should be? Webster’s dictionary definition of an
idealist is “one who follows their ideals, even to the
point of impracticality.” So who gets to decide what is
practical and what is possible? Who draws that line in
the sand? I can tell you from personal experience that
idealism is considered a weakness in our culture, or at
the very least, a flaw in perception - an incapacity to
see the world as it really is. Those who do not
restrict their thinking to what is deemed “realistic”
are labeled as pie-in-the-sky, navel-gazing dreamers. I
long ago came to terms with the fact that I would be on
the receiving end of such judgments and know that I am
in good company with others who have not been willing to
give up working towards their ideals in exchange for a
reputation of being deemed “realistic”. Addressing this
theme in my book, The Wholehearted Journey, I write:
“According to
the theory of aerodynamics, it is impossible for the
bumblebee to fly. Due to its size, weight and the shape
of its body in relation to the total wingspan, bumbles
bees should not be able to be airborne. But the bumble
bee, ignorant of these profound scientific truths, goes
ahead and flies anyway, and manages to make a little
honey every day. I think we should live like the
bumblebees. In fact, we should live like Lewis Carroll
who says in Alice in Wonderland, ‘Sometimes I’ve
believed as many as six impossible things before
breakfast.’ Here are a few other idealists who dared to
believe in impossible things: the Wright Brothers,
Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, Mahatma Gandhi,
Nelson Mandela, and Jonas Salk.
Contrary to
popular belief, there is nothing sacred about the status
quo. It is idealism, radical thinking and revolutionary
thought that bring change and progress; not groupthink.
Not one of the founders of the great religions was
orthodox – they were all independent thinkers. Jesus
was not a Christian, Siddhartha was not a Buddhist, and
Mohammed was not a Muslim. All were considered
troublemakers and critics of the establishments of their
day. Surely, by thinking for ourselves, we will be
criticized and misunderstood. But is being
misunderstood such a terrible thing? Pythagoras was
misunderstood, and so were Socrates, Luther, Copernicus,
Galileo, and Sir Isaac Newton. In fact, Ralph Waldo
Emerson suggested that ‘To be great requires a
willingness is to be misunderstood.’
It is said
that whoever rocks the boat will be asked to sit down,
but once in awhile we need the devious among us who just
tip the whole thing right over. Let our old, dried up
notions get all wet. It is the idealists, not the
pragmatists that have advanced and enriched the world in
astonishing ways. It is those who are foolish enough to
throw caution to the winds who change the world with
their discoveries or their revolutions.”
Having said that,
I am not arguing idealism over pragmatism. What I am
suggesting, however, is that we value our ideals enough
that we do not sacrifice them completely in a work
culture that measures its success solely in practical
terms.
Questions
which have no right to go away
Dear Denise, As always,
your last newsletter provided lots of food for thought
resulting in lively discussion at our monthly staff
meeting. The question we most enjoyed from last month’s
newsletter was the one prompted by the David Whyte poem
– “What are some of the questions in your life which
have no right to go away?” We are curious to know what
questions would be included in your own response.”
- Mental Health Agency, St. Paul, Minnesota
In the spirit of
David Whyte’s poem, I believe that we spend too much of
our life answering questions that are too small and
narrow for the human spirit, while the questions that
would call us to a deeper life wait patiently outside
the door of our resistance. I thank the reader for
making this request because it was a rather powerful
exercise for me to draft my own list of questions. I
wholeheartedly recommend this exercise to anyone who
would dare take it on.
The most profound
lesson I learned in the process was that, while my life
has undergone tremendous change in the last two years
with a move from the shores of Central California to the
prairies of Canada, the themes, challenges and
aspirations that animate my journey have not changed.
There is something very beautiful and encouraging to me
in the realization that the deeper purposes and ultimate
meaning of our lives are not dependent on factors such
as geography, weather, economics, marital status, or
immigration status. I am reminded of the adage,
“Wherever you go, you take yourself with you.” Bloom
where you are planted, eh?
I was thankful
that the reader specified which questions “would be
included” in my own list, as this first pass should not
be mistaken as in any way complete. Now that I think
about it, I would hope that my list would only change
and grow as I age, although I suspect many, if not most,
of these questions would endure the test of time simply
because they would have no right to go away. Let’s see
if you agree.
Enduring
Questions:
-
What do I
love most about this world? What do I love about my
life? How do I receive the gifts of the world and
of my life with open arms?
-
What do I
have to offer and contribute to this world which
reflects and celebrates the gifts I have been given?
-
Who/what are
the greatest sources of joy in my life and open me
to love? What makes me laugh, sing, and dance?
-
What breaks
my heart, makes me want to weep, speak out in anger,
and/or feel my connection with the larger world?
-
What are the
values and beliefs upon which I base my life? What
do I consider to be sacred? On what issues or
principles do I find myself willing to be
uncompromising?
-
What would
the world lack without my presence? What is the
legacy I care to leave this world through the living
of my life?
-
If I were to
dedicate this time of my life toward a greater aim
or purpose, what would it be? How can I be of
greater services to this cause?
-
What/who am I
most committed to in my life as reflected in my
current investment of time, energy, love and
attention? Which parts of my life are deserving of
greater care and attention?
-
What are the
lessons I am trying to learn as reflected in my
current circumstances and situation? Am I teachable
at this time? What is the cost of ignoring the
lesson, and what is the potential benefit of
learning from it?
-
What within
me is yearning to be brought out into the light of
day and expressed more deeply, openly or
assertively? What gesture or change in my life
would feel like coming home to my self?
-
What makes me
brave, generous, and kind? What makes me less so?
-
What are the
hopes and aspirations animating my present journey?
What are my challenges and fears? Are they worthy
of the power I allot them?
-
When my
spirit is low, where do I go for inspiration and
encouragement? How do I come to treat the tending of
my spirit as essential as any other obligation in my
life?
-
What would I
most like to change about the world? What would I
most like to change about myself? What am I waiting
for?
May autumn beckon
an abundant windfall of colorful questions in the forest
that is your life,
~ Denise
© Denise Bissonnette, October 2008
(If not used for commercial purposes, this article
may be reproduced, all or in part, providing it is credited to
"Denise Bissonnette, Diversity World - www.diversityworld.com."
If included in a newsletter or other publication, we would
appreciate receiving a copy.)
Read Denise's previous (September 2008) newsletter...
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