This is http://www.essayz.com/a9003171.htm Previous-Essay <== This-Essay ==> Following-Essay Click HERE on this line to find essays via Your-Key-Words. {Most frequent wordstarts of each essay will be put here.} ========================================================== %PARADIGM TRANSCEND OPEN HONE COMMUNICATE DIFFERENT 900317 Paradigms provide their incarnations with a communal basis for belief, confidence and behavior. The incarnations of any particular paradigm share in common many attitudes, perceptions, techniques, rituals, traditions, values, ideals, goals, etc. Their paradigm provides a context for their daily lives; and at the same time may imprison them. Paradigm transcendence depends greatly upon the interest and ability of the persons who are the incarnations of the paradigm to communicate openly and honestly with persons who are the incarnations of complementary paradigms. People of low self esteem often try to bolster themselves and each other up with pretentions of self confidence, and thereby reveal their insecurity. They are often on the defensive in efforts to overcome their insecurity, and they thereby undermine their own insecurity by triggering aggressive tendencies in others. Such people are unlikely to transcend their imprisoning paradigm because they fear to be in open and honest dialogue with incarnations of complementary paradigms; and often forbid members of their family, school, church, nation, profession, etc. to engage in such dialogue. Those who disobey and engage in forbidden dialogue are excommunicated. The whole process is evil, as the essence of evil is the inhibition of open and honest communication. Such evil processes may often be observed in the behaviors of religious extremists, fanatics, fundamentalists, legalistic moralizers, fanatical nationalists, addicts, codependents, technocrats, and scientists addicted to research. They worship the features of their paradigm and are led by their paradigm to sacrifice the amount and quality of inter-paradigm dialogue, affection and intimacy. Paradigms imprison when they lead to misunderstandings, alienation and to personal and communal disintegration. Some paradigms undermine all hope of transcendence by undermining openness, honesty and dialogue. In fact, often the people who are the incarnations of paradigms are terrified by even a dim vision of the possibility of transcending their prison walls by walking through the open door of the prison which has been made to look like a wall by the pretensions of the paradigm. Even when situations are not as extreme as those just suggested, it often happens that humans (due to their limited energies, time and dispositions) become so specialized within one paradigm, that they are unable to communicate meaningfully with other humans who have correspondingly specialized within a related paradigm. One thing leads to another, and the situation may gradually disintegrate into one which is as extreme as those previously indicated. In the absence of integrative values which are regarded as more important than other values, it is natural for paradigms to lead people into disintegrative attitudes and behavior patterns. Paradigm transcendence depends upon taking seriously essential integrative values and ideals, and making judgments regarding paradigms in the light of such integrative ideals and the consequences which they reveal by their light. (c) 2005 by Paul A. Smith in (On Being Yourself, Whole and Healthy) ==========================================================