What makes us human?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
This final characteristic or seeing putting something in a neat box and labelling it positive or negative extends to the black and white thinking we see in the anxious debates of our age, including:
\n\u2022 BREXIT
\n\u2022 Refugees and migration
\n\u2022 Junior doctors strikes
\n\u2022 Nationalism in Europe and the US
\n\u2022 Trident
\n\u2022 The Union
\n\u2022 The various issues and\u00a0groups who Donald Trump\u00a0targets
\n\u2022 Trophy hunting
\n\u2022 Sugar tax
\nIn all of these a circle tends to be put around those with a different view and then there is a judgement that makes them and their ideas wrong.\u00a0 We\u00a0see it from our Facebook pages to Front pages.<\/p>\n
The news media and social media coverage of all these stories polarises views. Advocates of a particular viewpoint tend to sound as if the argument is very clearcut; they know the answer – and it is in their direction.<\/p>\n
So if being human means we have a tendency to seek tribal certainties, what makes us civil is, I believe, stepping back from quick scapegoating\u2026seeing the other side, disagreeing well, looking at what is fact from the story and\u00a0considering the alternative stories.<\/p>\n
However, I agree that in a way I risk ‘circling’ those who are certain and making them wrong! Yet, this desire to see the other side is more of a habit I practice than a belief; a discipline more than a personal value. I find it as easy to label and judge as anyone else, but reckon that learning to challenge those tendencies (as I look for information to challenge my assumptions and confirmation bias) is pretty important in my life and work.<\/p>\n
And the more I think about the stuff that occupies the pages, screens and chat in my life the more nuanced the ideas seem. I realise ‘IDK’: I don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
As I explore the gospel of doubt in the age of anxiety I discover I need to continually practice \u2018holding my beliefs lightly\u2019. Yet, I regularly need to form a view and make a judgement. I need to vote. I need to advise a client; to call time in a meeting. I need to act.<\/p>\n
So what makes us human? Pausing. The potential of a momentary pause to consider; what else might be.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Further reading: <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" What makes us human? The ability to tell stories that make sense of our lives? The (potential to have a) conscience? The way we organise to do \u2018projects’ from farming to hobbies to start-ups? But also \u2018othering\u2019 – that is the way we pretty naturally like to put all we see and meet into groups […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[136,155,28],"tags":[98,107,170],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2862"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2862"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2872,"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2862\/revisions\/2872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.idenk.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\u2022 Meaning of Life is a project <\/a>
\n\u2022 National treasures <\/a>
\n\u2022 Projection, scapegoating, splitting<\/a>
\n\u2022 WITOS<\/a>\u00a0and perspective managment assessment<\/a>
\n\u2022 From other peoples skin <\/a>(shoes, eyes)
\n\u2022 Holding our beliefs lightly <\/a>
\n\u2022 The Gospel of Doubt <\/a>and questioning the \u2018bricks’ on which our beliefs are based
\n\u2022 The Age of Anxiety <\/a><\/p>\n