the reason of reasoning

"We are a product of western society...
We get taught and raised in tradition of structure and reason...
We learn to put our structure on the world...
and when that does not work we learn to push harder.
But that does not always work and we need to learn following the flow of life too.

Like when you are a mouse trying to steer an elephant...
and when the Elephant is out of control and starts running...
you can try to hang on to its tail and steer...
maybe better let go of its tail though...
We are so much raised in the tradition of reason and thinking that we think it is the truth, it is part of nature and part of logic."
It was Art Burshy talking to me again with loads of passion, conviction and maybe some frustration.

"But Art, look at all civilisation we created with our science and logic, are you denying that reality?"

"No, probably large part of that is sort of real.
Interesting is that we are just building reason and understanding on empiric evidence...we find the truth we are looking for.
When we see correlations we try to prove them, and when it is 70% of the cases in the study, we consider it proven.
In a way we are creating stereotypes of reality; we fill our lives with assumptions.
- we project cultural stereotypes on people; 'you are blunt because you are Dutch' or you should be elegant as you are a woman
- research shows that people do not really learn when older than 35...but do you give up on people because of that...?
- more immigrant kids commit crimes...but is that because they are foreign or because they have tougher lives, worse role models, less wealth or anything else...?
In a way reasoning and sense of knowing-it-all takes away hope and magic....
It takes away the wonderment, the believe that things can come true, that this world is special and we have to keep it that way.
And we have been wrong in many occasions, changing views dramatically in many areas of science"

"But if we can not rely on all that research and reasoning, what do we rely on?" was my surprised question.

"We need to learn to feel and trust.
Like an artist we need to be willing to unpeel the layers of our onion..."

"But Art, sorry, but what does this have to do with onions...?"

"We are like onions in a sense that we have many layers that have been added when we were young, by our parents, by our schools, by our religions, by the examples we have seen and the behaviour that has been rewarded.
All these layers we consider as true and the basis of our values and reasoning; challenging these layers is like having to rediscover yourself and accept that we do not know what we thought we knew.
We should not be afraid of not knowing; we should enjoy exploring every new situation, every new challenge, every pain, every new person, every new colleague...and enjoy it...
We should unpeel and while peeling we will learn more about ourselves, but also more about where we grew up, about what our context has added to our nature, about our culture...
And we need to re-learn how to feel, empathise and judge what is good and how to do good.
And we should pick our leaders from the people that honestly searched their souls, that have built understanding and realise they need to keep searching humbly, guide others but being ope to follow others..."

"But we are not all artists, how do non-artists do this?"

"Hey, I do not have all the answers, but there are more ways than through art.
Art is just for the purpose of the artist; dealing with all questions around purpose and existing.
By itself truth can for example be found in spirituality; understanding that you are only part of something much bigger. Although in many cases religions actually prevent you from exploring too far and being open minded.
You can dive into other cultures to learn to see the differences and challenge your own reasoning and values.
You could read, reflect and discuss with friends
You can learn from your children; kids are still what we call naive and less conditioned.
We can find truth in music, in caring for people or animals, we can probably find it in anything."

I went home after this conversation.
A conversation that started by Art Burshy telling me about the lecture he had joined and the questions he had raised.
The teacher had been dismissive, not open to Art's views and statements.
And I sensed Art was frustrated.
Was it just frustration that made him challenge our whole system of thinking?
Did he just want to get back to the guy who had not been willing to agree with his opinion?
Or did he actually have a point?

Well, when home I decided to play with my youngest child, humbly sitting down next to him on the floor trying to enter his world...a world in which everything seemed possible...