While life is going well for us, we're generally grateful - certainly not inclined to change anything. However, when life is rough, we tend to have second thoughts about who we are (self-concept), and even what life's all about (worldview). Indeed, one's self-concept and worldview are interdependent means of making sense of life - keys to our happiness.
Periodically, devastating things happen to all of us - death of loved ones, loss of relationships, loss of jobs or homes. During such "shipwrecks" our old paradigms of reality no longer hold, so we have to come up with a brand new self-concept / worldview combo to make sense of life and seek happiness. So life as it is now again makes sense according to this new self-concept / worldview, but this too is temporary, this too is but a provisional simple static model of an infinitely-complex, constantly-changing universe.  |
| Reading and reflecting at the Harvard Coop, Cambridge MA |
Yes, new paradigms have a way of seeming "more true" than the old ones, but really they are just "more useful to relieve distress" than the old ones. And that's okay. For now.
ReplyDeleteYes Geri, life is a wild ride!
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