Namesake

Paradigms. Patterns of thinking which shape how we think, act, and treat others, the planet, and ourselves. In many ways I think paradigms align very closely with one's culture. In others, with one's identity. It is something that is molded and formed starting from the moment we're conceived, even before birth. The way our parents (or someone else) raises us. The people we are surrounded with in childhood. The foods we are fed and the way of life we're born into. As we grow, our the culture around us becomes our culture; the social context in which we feel most comfortable is the one to which we gravitate.

Yet as we grow older, into middle and high school, then on to college, we slowly begin to build our own paradigms, often times unconsciously. Through education, life experiences, relationships, and how we react to all of these. We start to build up pre-conceived ideas and notions about the way the world operates and our place in it.

All too often I think we don't realize how our paradigms - the assumptions, patterns, emotions, prejudices, etc, that we bring to any (and every) given context - shape how we respond or react or feel. I strongly believe that unquestioned and therefore increasingly entrenched and narrow paradigms are the root of much of the systemic (read societal and/or global) injustice, and the individual pain we see and experience in this world.

I've been very hesitant to start blogging. Part of me feels its narcissistic, while the other part knows that I more clearly think through what I'm saying and therefore how I think when I know others are going to read it. So here I am. Writing mainly to clarify and question my own thoughts and behaviors, but also in hopes that others will do the same. That others will question their paradigms and that together we can begin to open our eyes and see things as they truly are. Only then will we be able to work towards real and meaningful change on this Earth.

So I ask that if you read something you don't understand or agree with, to comment here. To raise questions or clarifications so that not only I may see them, but also others who may have similar sentiments.