Knowing the What and Knowing the Why
To know the ‘what’ or ‘why’ about anything, we have to understand something about our current beliefs and how beliefs interact with how we think and what we think about. If you see yourself as a ‘Thought Leader” this is definitely the blog to be.
This first post takes an initial look therefore at beliefs and thinking.
Virtuous or Vicious Cycle in your Thinking?
What we believe (our models, theories, assumptions) influences how we think and what we think about. Equally how we think and what we think about influences our beliefs. This process can either represent a virtuous cycle or a vicious cycle depending on whether the process is opening up or closing down the limits of our thinking (And believe it or not this interaction between thoughts and beliefs is so powerful it influences ‘how we see things’ so that what we actually see through our own eyes has less direct and immediate impact on our beliefs than we think – the idea that ‘seeing is believing’ is in fact rarely true for us)
It is our models, beliefs, theories that we ‘hold’ in our head that help to make sense of the world around us. However we often fail to recognise that ‘that sense’ is not representative of a true reality but is a ‘best fit’ of reality as it has appeared to us so far in personal everyday experience.
Every model can be true (useful) at some level (within its own often limited context).
Harmful Models - Some models prove (demonstrate) to be harmful in that they generate actions, behaviours, systems, viewpoints that in the long term make matters worse rather than better. Theories about what is right or wrong, good or evil have led to destructive wars against people who are little different from ourselves except for the beliefs they hold.
Helpful Models – Other models prove to be useful in the long term in that when the principles of the model are followed things consistently improve. In this blog we will be particularly interested in models and beliefs that have led to sustained improvement rather than holding a status quo or making matters worse. And of course we will need to keep an eye on what we mean (operational definition) by improvement as this is not always clear and can therefore can muddy our thinking.
Models that broaden our reality - We should be aware that some models and beliefs will broaden our view of reality (like a wide-angle lens for photography). Such models will be particularly useful when we need to see the bigger picture or to see how things interact and connect together. Such models are also likely to be useful in times of rapid change when a broader model has more inherent flexibility in the thoughts that it allows
Models that constrict our reality – Other models may narrow or constrict our view of reality. These models may be useful when we need to be focused on the “where-we-are” and the “here-and-now”. However the danger with these models is that we can’t see further than the end of our nose, we can’t see the forest from the trees and we can’t see why and how mankind in general is making things on planet Earth worse not better. Also such models are likely to be a liability in times of rapid change where the here-and-now almost instantly becomes part of the back ‘there-and-then’.
Next: Different ways of thinking.
