Daniel Quinn's 'other way of thinking' seems to me to be "not knowing"
since "knowing" wasn't working for me, i tried to "know" more things as a solution.
i fell into the "more of the same" trap.
i couldn't imagine at the time that operating on a "not knowing" basis could be the solution (to my depression, to the challenges facing the world today). The solution to guilt, to the idea that i knew what i was doing and that the world knew what it was doing and that we were both fucking up royally somehow and therefore "to blame".
it's not to say that i changed my beliefs, it's more to acknowledge that they are beliefs, not facts. Language and the wording of my thoughts is at the heart of it. Now, I don't say, "things will be better this other way". I can say, "I believe there is a better way" or "I feel there is a better way."
It's a huge part of clear communication and non-violent communication. I feel that if one says "things WILL be this way" then they are asserting responsibility for making it be that way (forcing it to happen).
Or in assuming one person can know how another person feels without directly asking them.
There is so much more to "not knowing" and i'll write more if anyone's curious... anywho, it is my belief that this concept of "not knowing" is the root of the 'changed minds' that Daniel Quinn references here.
EXCERPT:
People don't want more of the same. Yet, oddly enough, when they ask me what will save the world, they want to hear more of the same--something familiar, something recognizable. They want to hear about uprisings or anarchy or tougher laws. But none of those things is going to save us--I wish they could. What we must have (and nothing less) is a whole world full of people with changed minds. Scientists with changed minds, industrialists with changed minds, school teachers with changed minds, politicians with changed minds--though they'll be the last of course. Which is why we can't wait for them or expect them to lead us into a new era. Their minds won't change until the minds of their constituents change. Gorbachev didn't create changed minds; changed minds created Gorbachev.
Changing people's minds is something each one of us can do, wherever we are, whoever we are, whatever kind of work we're doing. Changing minds may not seem like a very dramatic or exciting challenge, but it's the challenge that the human future depends on.
It's the challenge your future depends on.
PS - Great read on cultural awareness/ancestry/the most radical ("radix" is greek for "root") shit ever: Another Way of Knowing - The Great Forgetting: http://www.awok.org/great-forgetting/
i fell into the "more of the same" trap.
i couldn't imagine at the time that operating on a "not knowing" basis could be the solution (to my depression, to the challenges facing the world today). The solution to guilt, to the idea that i knew what i was doing and that the world knew what it was doing and that we were both fucking up royally somehow and therefore "to blame".
it's not to say that i changed my beliefs, it's more to acknowledge that they are beliefs, not facts. Language and the wording of my thoughts is at the heart of it. Now, I don't say, "things will be better this other way". I can say, "I believe there is a better way" or "I feel there is a better way."
It's a huge part of clear communication and non-violent communication. I feel that if one says "things WILL be this way" then they are asserting responsibility for making it be that way (forcing it to happen).
Or in assuming one person can know how another person feels without directly asking them.
There is so much more to "not knowing" and i'll write more if anyone's curious... anywho, it is my belief that this concept of "not knowing" is the root of the 'changed minds' that Daniel Quinn references here.
EXCERPT:
People don't want more of the same. Yet, oddly enough, when they ask me what will save the world, they want to hear more of the same--something familiar, something recognizable. They want to hear about uprisings or anarchy or tougher laws. But none of those things is going to save us--I wish they could. What we must have (and nothing less) is a whole world full of people with changed minds. Scientists with changed minds, industrialists with changed minds, school teachers with changed minds, politicians with changed minds--though they'll be the last of course. Which is why we can't wait for them or expect them to lead us into a new era. Their minds won't change until the minds of their constituents change. Gorbachev didn't create changed minds; changed minds created Gorbachev.
Changing people's minds is something each one of us can do, wherever we are, whoever we are, whatever kind of work we're doing. Changing minds may not seem like a very dramatic or exciting challenge, but it's the challenge that the human future depends on.
It's the challenge your future depends on.
PS - Great read on cultural awareness/ancestry/the most radical ("radix" is greek for "root") shit ever: Another Way of Knowing - The Great Forgetting: http://www.awok.org/great-forgetting/