Short Essay: Learning To Challenge Ubiquity
“Just because a practice is common does not guarantee it is logical”
Ubiquity can be an unseen constriction on the mind of an individual. Limiting ones ability to think freely and pursue understanding and the development of new ideas
There is some point in most of our upbringing that our standard responses of "why" and "how come" have been persuaded out of us. This is a terrible tragedy to our interpretation of the world and to our search for purpose and understanding. Once we stop submitting questions to the world, we suddenly find little internal opposition to accepting whatever we are told is standard, necessary, or true.
I esteem the precious few who have been blessed either through the encouragement of their parents, or by their own uncrushable will, to keep their questions alive to adulthood. They are our inventors and innovators, the philosophers among us, the ones among us who question our understanding of the world and seek new discoveries in response to their ability to separate tradition from truth.
We are creatures of habit, and we tend to force our habits onto our children, whether consciously or not, through our own self-ignorance or because we truly believe them to be a good path to follow.
Humanity rushes forward in the cultural ruts left by our ancestors. Some ruts are healthy tracks to follow, offering a good thing either to our practical lives or our mentality; other ruts are toxic to our freedom of thought and to our functionality as a unified species, but all ruts can be dangerous when we don't understand that they exist.
I wrote a pithy line here about "putting the salt and pepper back in the cabinet with the rest of the spices", but you shouldn't listen to me any more than our predecessors or peers, what you decide to do should be up to your own experience and decision. Go against trends for a day or two and become comfortable in who you are instead of being a display case for the preferences of others. Compare yourself to your parents and observe the behavioral similarities, try to consider whether they are healthy behaviors or not, how you felt about them growing up, and how they might make others feel about you. Try to stir up the part of you that wonders, that asks the why's and takes nothing at face value, nothing for granted.
I believe it can be useful to envision a third party in your mind who refuses to understand or accept your of course's and your constant unquestioned agreement. A non-partial entity, an alien to your culture and raising. Let them give you reasonable advice, ask questions where you are afraid to, give solid compassionate criticism or honest and meaningful praise. It is so important to be able to step back and see a clear and honest vision of yourself, and of whatever situation you find yourself in. We are so accustomed to agreeing and accepting, it is part of our culture and has been taught to us in our youth.
I would posit that we could use a new spirit of renaissance in this century. Or, as it would be derived from in the original French, a re-birth. A rising tendency and ability to look at the world with the eyes of a child. To have wonder and innocence and curiosity.
Go be curious