“Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes.” —Walt Whitman
Sometimes I make a big, giant fool of myself. I say one thing and do another. I support a certain idea at one time, then discredit it later. At certain times, I would even go so far as to call myself a hypocrite.
It’s not something I do intentionally, but it’s something that happens when you regularly immerse yourself in different contexts. When you live in a continual paradigm shift, things tend to change quickly. What I believe one day, I may not believe the next. What I thought was true, I may find to be irrevocably false.
I’m not really that concerned with contradicting myself. Maybe some people will judge me for it, and that’s okay. That’s just what happens when you embrace a life of radical growth. What you believe is subject to change and even the principles you live by can dramatically shift.
For some people, that’s unnerving… living in constant flux. The Buddhists say that living with complete honesty is like this: “above, not a tile to cover the head; below, not an inch of ground on which to stand.”
Even the earth we stand on is not stationary. As the saying goes “the only constant is change.” Some people embrace it, and even seek it out. Others try to pretend that it doesn’t exist, and cling to every transitory facet of their lives.
I prefer to embrace truth, however it may unfold. I won’t deny what I think to be right simply because I used to believe something else.
So if I contradict myself, very well, I’ve done my job. If my life is a contradiction, so be it.
When I am 100% agreeable, I will be a fixed pattern, predictable, sure, and thoroughly dead. For now, I prefer to be full of contradictions, messy, and most importantly: alive.
photo courtesy of wysz
Jonathan
Love the cleanliness of the new blog and the message resonates so very through and through with my stream of consciousness. I find change is constant as is my transformation. It’s a process and consists of many perspectives. I relinquish my beliefs for the benefit of another perspective, so that I may see through many eyes and have many experiences.
Such a timely post for me by the way. I interpret this post as a confirmation of my earlier writing from yesterday. Your open expression gives me permission to explore deeper, my many perspectives and be ok with them when they transform & change. No judgments.
Thank you my friend!
So many people will staunchly defend their position on a subject, no matter how obvious they have been proven to be wrong. Such silly creatures, us humans with our gigantic brains.
I like the new space. I’ve come to the end of my initial experimentation phase, and am set to devote more time to doing it well. I will still have a place similar to this to let some of my addled thoughts overflow into, keeping it out of the main blog.
Love how clean it is in here! Refreshing.
I agree with you. I think if you are a person who is generally open and takes a lot of things in, it’s normal that you change your mind often. It really just means that you got more information to consider and were wise enough to not shut it out.
On the other hand, it’s closed minded people who seem to be the ones who most stick to their opinions and beliefs. Probably no coincidence there.
I realize I just made a huge generalization about a group of people, lol.
Hey Jonathan,
Great to visit you here at your new site. I love that quote and this topic is something I have often thought about too. As people interested in growth and personal development I think this is natural, but also it takes a big person to say ‘i’ve changed my mind’ rather than always stick with what they have said before.
Good post. I agree with you on this. I like to view my beliefs and values as a consequence of the way in which I perceive the world. This perception stems directly from the model of the world I created in my mind. This model is shaped by my genetics and my experiences; probably mostly my experiences. Anyway, like any scientific model, it is rarely perfect. As one gain better understanding of your world and yourself, you find ways in which this model has to be tweaked for it to better match that which you observe and understand. So, as you tweak this model, your values and beliefs will change with it. As long as you keep on testing the model to ensure that it feels right!
I’ve done so many 180’s in the past year, I sometimes forget where I was headed in the first place.
But I’ve come to believe it’s all part of the process of living, creating, and growing. Sticking to something simply because you were sticking to it yesterday is a good way to stay stuck forever.
You have really great taste on catch article titles, even when you are not interested in this topic you push to read it
It is useful to try everything in practice anyway and I like that here it’s always possible to find something new.
Love how clean it is in here! Refreshing.
I agree with you. I think if you are a person who is generally open and takes a lot of things in, it’s normal that you change your mind often. It really just means that you got more information to consider and were wise enough to not shut it out.
On the other hand, it’s closed minded people who seem to be the ones who most stick to their opinions and beliefs. Probably no coincidence there.
I realize I just made a huge generalization about a group of people, lol.
Good post. I agree with you on this. I like to view my beliefs and values as a consequence of the way in which I perceive the world. This perception stems directly from the model of the world I created in my mind. This model is shaped by my genetics and my experiences; probably mostly my experiences. Anyway, like any scientific model, it is rarely perfect. As one gain better understanding of your world and yourself, you find ways in which this model has to be tweaked for it to better match that which you observe and understand. So, as you tweak this model, your values and beliefs will change with it. As long as you keep on testing the model to ensure that it feels right!
Jonathan
Love the cleanliness of the new blog and the message resonates so very through and through with my stream of consciousness. I find change is constant as is my transformation. It’s a process and consists of many perspectives. I relinquish my beliefs for the benefit of another perspective, so that I may see through many eyes and have many experiences.
Such a timely post for me by the way. I interpret this post as a confirmation of my earlier writing from yesterday. Your open expression gives me permission to explore deeper, my many perspectives and be ok with them when they transform & change. No judgments.
Thank you my friend!