A Great Place for All: Why? (21.26)
2021 May 23 (Essay: 21.26 Why?)
Welcome to column 21.26 and thanks again for reading, subscribing, and sharing. This column is part of my quest for a unified world and country that can become a better (make that .. Great) place for all.
Hello readers!
I have often felt that asking “why?” gets to the heart of analysis during the process of developing expertise. I have always wanted to know more, have gotten into trouble for asking too many or too few questions. Thankfully with search engines the fear of asking questions or the time it takes to research answers can often be mitigated.
But we still have to know where to start our quest and I believe it is best to integrate different events/actions into a singled fluid compendium to help ensure a more coherent view. For me the final view is both fun and heart-wrenching.
Let me start at the end:
For me learning is fun, reading is fun, integrating ideas and thoughts is more enjoyable. The problem is that I often don’t agree with the (cause and effect) analysis. I find some experts have a monocle on (a single lens) and ignore or don’t share many other aspects of the science or ramifications of their decisions. Media often ignore or don’t have a perspective of the relationship between varying causes or effects.
Our groups (work, religious, political, media) often shuttle us to our group-think (e.g. pro- or against-, left or right) versions of the truth, thereby preventing a complete perspective of subjects (and trade-offs) such as climate change, Covid-19, bias, employment, China, and immigration - so without a connection of cause and effect, misinformation or specific facts, we are further fastened to our potentially biased groups.
Safety:
We join groups (social, work) because we feel understood and because we feel comfortable or it resonates with our prior experiences. Safely and comfortably asking questions without fear is daunting in our or outside of our groups as it may negate our relationships. With social media and our groups, people (we) can quickly be judged for what they (we) don’t know (absent knowledge) and we do not want to be viewed as irrelevant, so increasingly people don’t ask “Why?”. Therefore our media listens to and conveys, the words of actors, lobbyists, and CEOs who have biases, but they often avoid getting balanced views of experts.
The question many of us asked as children “Why?”, may not have been tolerated then, and in today’s world I would submit, less so. Often we don’t understand many basic facets of an issue, so we can be uncomfortable doing anything other than listening. Once we know some information (developing skills) we can start understanding why we should do something and then we can comfortably ask other questions, but our experts and groups should help us ask questions that holistically connect causes and effects so that we can begin to develop expertise.
Experience:
I was choosing between the title “Why” and “Experience” for this essay as the process of building experiences and beliefs stems from asking why and then creating actions (learning and executing) to form thoughts and stories. Stories and music are connected thoughts and before there was writing there was a tradition of oral storytelling of history, music and art. We are captivated by stories, music and our personal experiences - all where we connected the dots of our existence and those in our life.
”Why” questions that I like:
Why do I believe what I believe?
Why do human beings (I) want to be both independent and want to be in groups
Why do we (I) forget the past so easily?
Why do we (I) focus so much on hope for the future rather than how to change the complexities of the present?
Why is it easy to be misunderstood? That is, why is it difficult to share the full breadth of our understanding, experiences and perspectives ?
Why do we (I) shape our experiences so much by our fears and groups. That is, why are ideas, actions, and communications abbreviated, limited and not continuously connected?
Why does a good story (e.g. movie) and music move you (me)?
Why does man exist?
Why do I exist?
Why did the Universe form and then how did it form?
Why did you (I) choose the career you (I) did?
Why did you (I) choose your current significant other(s) and best friend (BFF)? Why did he/she resonate with you (me)?
Let me leave with a simple question with a complex answer:
What do your (my) future experiences look like ? Why?
What role are you (am I) playing in their formation? Why?
Thanks for reading and until next time!
Joyously,
Richard at richardferdman@substack.com
Books, Articles and Podcasts inspiring this or referenced within include: Analytical thought, True Enough, Deviate, Righteous Mind, Perspectives, Robert Burton and Beliefs
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All content above is © Richard Ferdman 2021, Photo below is from May, 2021.
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