Introducing myself to the members of a virtual workshop, I wrote the following message.
Sharing it here with the world also keeps it nearby, where I can revisit regularly to remind myself of why I'm doing what I do, where I'm coming from, where I stand right now, and recharge to keep moving forward.
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I consider myself still taking baby steps in a lifelong discovery journey and it's always a joy to have the company of others who share the excitement (doubts and frustration sometimes as well, but mostly joy) of such a fulfilling journey.
Do you know these moments when you feel like you live inside your head, in a bubble that seems like an unattainable imaginary world?
You're not delusional nor in denial of the reality of life around you. You're just curious and try to explore the reality from different perspectives. Your intuition drives you to genuinely believe there must be other ways. We can do way much better.
The thinking process or the path you're trying to discover seems to make total sense. It sounds logical, and things start to fall into place naturally as you proceed.
However, it is a discovery activity. By definition, it means you don't have all the answers. You are still searching for them. You might be wrong (a lot), but you learn and proceed.
You might not necessarily be able to explain to others, or to demonstrate (so far) how there can be other ways, and more importantly, what such other ways may look like.
You start to sound (to them and sometimes to yourself) too idealistic, non-practical, and not keeping up with the "perceived" urgency of a situation. You even start doubting yourself. After all, you don't know and you're still trying to discover and learn. You have the intuition but you did not figure out most of it yet.
Then you keep oscillating between (1)following your intuition and (2)playing along with the rest of the world, which becomes very draining and you end up going nowhere in either direction.
Three years ago, I started to seek an understanding beyond the face value of what is widely considered a "common practice". It got me to realize how much knowledge, research, and science already exist about almost all the challenges we're facing everyday. Sitting out there. Either forgotten, misinterpreted, or simply superficially overlooked. I'm just ignorant. I just don't know.
I even started to see what I used to know and what I used to do through a completely different lens!
Mathematics, physics, philosophy, religion, leadership, business, decision-making, computer science, psychology, relationships, family, raising the kids, self development, education, brain science, epistemology, pedagogy, economics, cybernetics, sense-making, … and a lot more, are all connected!
They may seem disjoint, but they are actually pieces of the same puzzle. In some cases, two pieces might even be a different form of expression to a one larger piece. But at the end, they're all beautifully knitted together to express (i.e. model) the fabric of our everyday reality.
Then, in midst of the dopamine-fueled fascination, your reward-seeking but mostly fear-driven, doubtful, and anxious "mind" takes over again 🙂
I suddenly realized how much I don't know, how much I need to know, and how much I want to learn! It's overwhelming. It's scary.
I took about a year to realize I'm not going anywhere (again). But still it was not in vain. The journey itself developed an understanding that I have to embrace my emotions. I have to learn not to let the mind get in my way.
And here I am ... 🙂
Here I am today, taking baby steps towards learning, unlearning, and catching up on what I've missed throughout the years of life so far. At the same time, not throwing away everything from before.
Here I am today, working on putting together the bits and pieces I've collected during such years. Hopefully in a more effective and meaningful way, to form a nurturing foundation in order to grow, develop, and build on top of.
I hope these and future thoughts, contributions, and participation will bring value to the group and to the dialogue!
(as opposed to "discussion", thanks to David Bohm highlighting the distinction between the two).
I'm looking forward to learning from the diverse experiences and the contributions of everyone.
Finally, I hope we eventually (or along the way), we will spread out such learnings to the rest of the world.
Warm regards from Toronto,
Badrah
===========
Sharing it here with the world also keeps it nearby, where I can revisit regularly to remind myself of why I'm doing what I do, where I'm coming from, where I stand right now, and recharge to keep moving forward.
===========
I consider myself still taking baby steps in a lifelong discovery journey and it's always a joy to have the company of others who share the excitement (doubts and frustration sometimes as well, but mostly joy) of such a fulfilling journey.
Do you know these moments when you feel like you live inside your head, in a bubble that seems like an unattainable imaginary world?
You're not delusional nor in denial of the reality of life around you. You're just curious and try to explore the reality from different perspectives. Your intuition drives you to genuinely believe there must be other ways. We can do way much better.
The thinking process or the path you're trying to discover seems to make total sense. It sounds logical, and things start to fall into place naturally as you proceed.
However, it is a discovery activity. By definition, it means you don't have all the answers. You are still searching for them. You might be wrong (a lot), but you learn and proceed.
You might not necessarily be able to explain to others, or to demonstrate (so far) how there can be other ways, and more importantly, what such other ways may look like.
You start to sound (to them and sometimes to yourself) too idealistic, non-practical, and not keeping up with the "perceived" urgency of a situation. You even start doubting yourself. After all, you don't know and you're still trying to discover and learn. You have the intuition but you did not figure out most of it yet.
Then you keep oscillating between (1)following your intuition and (2)playing along with the rest of the world, which becomes very draining and you end up going nowhere in either direction.
Three years ago, I started to seek an understanding beyond the face value of what is widely considered a "common practice". It got me to realize how much knowledge, research, and science already exist about almost all the challenges we're facing everyday. Sitting out there. Either forgotten, misinterpreted, or simply superficially overlooked. I'm just ignorant. I just don't know.
I even started to see what I used to know and what I used to do through a completely different lens!
Mathematics, physics, philosophy, religion, leadership, business, decision-making, computer science, psychology, relationships, family, raising the kids, self development, education, brain science, epistemology, pedagogy, economics, cybernetics, sense-making, … and a lot more, are all connected!
They may seem disjoint, but they are actually pieces of the same puzzle. In some cases, two pieces might even be a different form of expression to a one larger piece. But at the end, they're all beautifully knitted together to express (i.e. model) the fabric of our everyday reality.
Then, in midst of the dopamine-fueled fascination, your reward-seeking but mostly fear-driven, doubtful, and anxious "mind" takes over again 🙂
I suddenly realized how much I don't know, how much I need to know, and how much I want to learn! It's overwhelming. It's scary.
I took about a year to realize I'm not going anywhere (again). But still it was not in vain. The journey itself developed an understanding that I have to embrace my emotions. I have to learn not to let the mind get in my way.
And here I am ... 🙂
Here I am today, taking baby steps towards learning, unlearning, and catching up on what I've missed throughout the years of life so far. At the same time, not throwing away everything from before.
Here I am today, working on putting together the bits and pieces I've collected during such years. Hopefully in a more effective and meaningful way, to form a nurturing foundation in order to grow, develop, and build on top of.
I hope these and future thoughts, contributions, and participation will bring value to the group and to the dialogue!
(as opposed to "discussion", thanks to David Bohm highlighting the distinction between the two).
I'm looking forward to learning from the diverse experiences and the contributions of everyone.
Finally, I hope we eventually (or along the way), we will spread out such learnings to the rest of the world.
Warm regards from Toronto,
Badrah
===========