The philosophical movement of the
18th century emphasized the use of reason to scrutinize previously accepted
doctrines and traditions which brought changes to modernize values, norms and
lifestyles. I feel as though Matthew Taylor’s piece was named 21st Century
Enlightenment because as we have progressed forward there is a need to keep
seeking enlightenment. Taylor stated in his video that “we need to live
differently, to do so we need to think differently”.
Change your thoughts, change the
world. This reminds me of “if you want something you have never had, you have
to do something you have never done.” If you keep approaching each situation
the same way, the results will be the same. To see change you have to change something
and everything we do stems from our thinking. Thoughts become words, words
become actions and habitually that shapes character. Your thoughts resonate in
what you do and who you are. Matthew Taylor believes this is “the result of us
responding automatically to the world around us rather than the outcome of
conscious decision making” (Taylor, n.d., n.p.). Instead of reacting perhaps we
can train ourselves to slow down and reflect so that we have the opportunity to
think differently.
During the video, Taylor brings
up another point which is “to resist our tendencies to make right or true that
which is merely familiar and wrong or false that which is only strange". I
have noticed this practice more than I care to mention. On a more laughable
scale, this is the story of Sam I Am and his green eggs and ham. He did not
want to try green eggs and ham, he did not think he would like it; perhaps they
were just as unfamiliar to him as they would be to us. But alas, he tried it
and he liked it. We cling to what we know, perhaps as a protective mechanism. I
see election signs starting to take up real estate in yards throughout the
community ushering support for selected candidates. I often wonder if those
candidates are winning on their merit or their name recognition. I imagine
seeing a name on the ballot and a fair number of people selecting that which is
familiar to them because time and care was not taken to have a different basis
for choosing.
An example of this that I
experienced is when I went to college in Mississippi. It was a place that was
unfamiliar to where I grew up and culturally quite different. I saw a lot of close-minded
fear for people who lived differently like in the gay community, but also for
people of a different ethnic background. This made me feel deeply because they
felt anyone not like them was wrong. I happened to fit into their cookie cutter
mold of being okay, but that made no difference to me. I didn’t want for me to
just be okay. What about everyone else? I remember making friends and going to
that person’s family event. I loved Pepsi at the time and was enthusiastic to
drink a Pepsi with my southern cooked meal. I was met with outrage that I was
drinking Pepsi, a company that supported gay rights. I was also told I should
not support Disney for the same reason because they hosted Gay Pride events.
This angered me and made me feel that they were wrong. They saw something
different and thought it was wrong. I saw something different in them and
thought that they were wrong. It was a two sided coin, quite a conundrum, and
no one was really right at all. How can we love and respect each other if we
cannot see beyond our differences?
Taylor argues that our society
should eschew elements of pop culture that degrade people and that we should
spend more time looking into what develops empathetic citizens. This is a world
I would like to live in. While I think it is possible, I am not certain it is
probable, at least in my lifetime. I fear that the immediate cultural climate
is one of labels, money and personal gain. My impression of our culture is one
that competes to be the best or the most at something, regardless of how
noteworthy or honorable, and puts down anyone below first. It is quite sad when
you see people on Instagram trying to be the first person to comment and claim
being first, which spawns fights in the comment section. There surely must be a
better use of time. While I think learning self expression is quite important I
wonder if this act stops short of true introspection where proclamations are
more about “I” and not enough about “us” or “we”. I am not sure where the
entitlement comes from, but to degrade someone is to treat them with
disrespect. I do not want to sound like my grandparents used to sound to me
when I was younger, but I feel that manners have been thrown out the window.
Each social convention that we become more lax with is another step toward the
normalization of deviance from a polite society.
One of my favorite musical
artists is Taylor Swift. By all accounts she is said to be a kind, nice woman.
I have never seen her swinging in her underwear on a wrecking ball and her
lyrics are not crude, but rather empowering to march to your own beat and be
the best you. She has managed success and popularity despite forgoing the
degradation of others and is still attacked frequently. Just recently her new
video for “Shake It Off” was attacked for elements of racism. While I am not an
authority on this subject, I feel there are much clearer cut, dire examples
that perhaps should be examined first. Even seemingly innocent elements of pop
culture, such as this video which was meant to celebrate dance, are subject to
being sullied in the muddy waters of degrading each other and what someone
stands for, even if it is correct or not. Ironically this is the motivation for
the song itself, that anyone can say anything about you and you have a choice
to let that bring you down or you can shake it off. I feel that we as a society
are too busy analyzing others to put them down instead of gaining understanding
in something that is a step in the right direction of empathetic pop culture.
At the end of the video, Matthew Taylor
talks about atomizing people from collaborative environments and the
destructive effect on their growth. His implication in this comment speaks to
the collaborative nature of humans. I think true progress in seeking
enlightenment will only be possible together. Not everyone has the same
strengths or perspectives. By allowing people to come together, you take a
sampling of the best of what we have to offer in a way that can build each
other up. I think within an organization and within society this will always be
essential to our progress and survival. No man is an island, I am certainly
not. I cannot figure out this world or this life on my own. We need each other
the lean on.
I feel that something immediate I can take
from this exercise would be that we each have the power to choose our thoughts.
We can all cultivate the ability to examine with both breadth and depth the implications
of our thoughts. Instead of readily dismissing something that is unfamiliar or
that we do not understand, we can pull at it like taffy until we have unraveled
a better understanding of the situation. We make decisions in our personal
lives but also inside of our organizations. Problems and obscure information
can come at you at any time. The question is have you prepared yourself to be
ready not to jump to conclusions?
This makes me wonder how we can
start encouraging a society that informs ourselves and is empathetic towards
each other. How can we prepare ourselves that with the examination of our
thoughts to gain understanding that this does not give us the right to be
judgmental to each other? How can we eliminate labeling unnecessary parts of
our lives with being the first or best in a category that is not something to
be proud of at all? Perhaps we should be concerned about being the first to
help someone else or being the most kind or thoughtful. How can we teach others
to think critically without being critical?
Reference:
Taylor, M. (n.d.). RSA Animate -
21st Century Enlightenment - YouTube. YouTube. Retrieved August 24, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC7ANGMy0yo&feature=youtu.be
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