Change doesn't just happen
- status: braindump
- This is about how if somebody is saying "well I should just be able to do it" they are clearly missing something because if they weren't they wouldn't be saying that they'd JUST be doing it.
- also "We just need to..."
- This can be understood as fundamentally a failure to apply systems thinking
- Who is this "we", anyway?
- Draft from Aug 2019
(rephrase these into first person maybe?)- Often people will say something like "I just need to X". I consider the word "just" in this context to be a major sign that the person (including myself) isn't engaging their systems-thinking mind, because almost always if someone in fact *just* needed to do X, then they would have done it already. And moreover, wouldn't be saying "I just need to..." but they would, in fact, *just* be doing the thing already.
- So there must be some other factor, internal or external, that is blocking them from "just" doing the thing, that for some reason they are refusing to see in that moment. And it's usually an internal factor (ie an inner conflict) because the presence of an external factor usually doesn't produce "I just need to X".
- The major juice here comes from using this as a cue to get curious about your own thinking. Like "should", it might be mildly helpful to just excise this word/phrasing from your manner of speech, but it can easily get replaced with a different word without changing the core meaning. In the previous sentence, I found myself wondering if it made sense to remove the word "just" but then I noticed that in that situation I wasn't saying "just stop not-doing it and do it" but rather "make the change only at this level rather than that level".
- (These two things aren't as different as they seem though. In both cases, there is an implied sense of "it's possible to change one thing in a system without other things changing".)
- And of course, saying "You just need to X" is even more overtly ~coercive.
- And I'm finding myself again feeling like this connects with the hemispheres, where in the left-hemisphere's coherent world-model you can *just* change one thing and have things be different. It's simple! But reality, including oneself, is more complex. One needs to learn how to lean into the right hemisphere and ponder "I wonder why I don't do this thing that seems like an obviously good move?"
- (Mmm and I have some thoughts about the possible emotional blockage nature of the inner conflict now too)
- "Just do it" as a maxim represents a very goal-first value, (vs a value-first value)
- Related content/tweets
- Michael Smith's Awakening the Universe piece, sections on viability
- (not public as of this writing)
15 linked references
February 18th, 2022
draft of my thoughts on ethics / morality / moral realism › B) any commentary on some behavior or strategy being "wro…
- or they have a naive view of how behavior change works, because part of viability is about how one might go about learning how to do something different, and Change doesn't just happen
Podcast summaries
- Keywords - brain hemispheres coercion what is coercion? productivity scapegoat Everyone is basically living in a dream mashup of their current external situation & old emotional meanings everyone is constantly overgeneralizing Conversation As Medium make shared or different frames explicit shared train of thought do people naturally self-regulate how deep they're willing to go? commitment/choice is a confused way to relate to stances/mindsets dream mashups Unlocking the Emotional Brain IFS partswork what might a healthy community look like? doing community well The Master and his Emissary intro left hemisphere right hemisphere Behavior: The Control of Perception Perceptual Control Theory Hemisphere DharmaChange doesn't just happenHemispheres & Self-improvement left hemispheres aren't made for interfacing with other people Perceptual Control Theory control systems
With Jonny Miller — Podcast with Jonny Miller Transcript › Outline of ideas discussed. (I'm M, Jonny is J)
- Keywords - brain hemispheres McGilchrist's brain hemisphere model Perceptual Control Theory barn-raising Internal Family Systems blindspot blindspot feedback is hard (but possible!) it's only possible to be rational within a frame make shared or different frames explicit Change doesn't just happen Intend productivity Intend Philosophy & Paradigm how to think about goals PCT internal conflict much of human collaboration scales sublinearly but it's possible to scale superlinearly What are the components or dimensions required for collaborative culture? Geoffrey West Questions for teasing apart the concept of commitment commitment/choice is a confused way to relate to stances/mindsets Everyone is basically living in a dream mashup of their current external situation & old emotional meanings everyone is constantly overgeneralizing acceptance isn't the same as acceptance safety self-trust right hemisphere left hemisphere self-energizing
- 1:26:21 - 1:33:37 - Is the conscious mind a solely passive mind? Change doesn't just happen unconsciousness Hemispheres & Self-improvement
July 20th, 2021
- oh hm this tweet is slightly a parody of stuff in the space of Change doesn't just happen and blindspot feedback is hard (but possible!)
- > spiritual relationships:
Person 1 "I am in this state and it is good but also bad, it could change and I have equinimity about that."
Person 2 "I support you being in that state and it is good and also bad, I am open to it changing if it does. I recognize you have equinimity."
July 6th, 2021
- lots of use of "just" also - see Change doesn't just happen
Ideating on Hemisphere Exploration meditations
consider the phrase "you can't step in the same river twi… › Something about finding the perspective from which "addin…
- this also relates to Change doesn't just happen, because "just" implies a lack of relationship
What is Blame?
In a context where blame is considered a valid way of thi… › Examples: › Consider also democracy, and how the tiny impact that pla…
- But I'm realizing right now that that perspective is itself reifying the FPTP electoral system as being the problem, and is therefore blame-based. Change doesn't just happen, and we can't just change the electoral system. Which is not to say that it mightn't make a difference! It's just that the orientation to the meaning of changing it matters.
The Challenge of Partial Control
- David Chapman writes about The fantasy of control. The fantasy is of complete control. It's seductive, and also impossible. The world is slippery and has too many fiddlybits—not to mention other systems with their own agendas. Turns out this is the case even if you're Change doesn't just happen "just" trying to control yourself.