Radical thought

​‘A great many people think they are thinking when they are merely rearranging their prejudices.’ (William James)

New thinking: ‘The process of becoming, the creation of what is not yet, is achieved through thinking in new, perhaps previously unimagined, ways of thinking. The concept of difference – thinking differently, becoming different, and the creation of difference – is key to maximising the potential of life.  It provokes us and dislodges us. It creates whole new possibilities.’ (Claire Colebrook)

Paradigm shift: ‘It shatters all the familiar landmarks of my thought — our thought, the thought that bears the stamp of our age and our geography — breaking up all the ordered surfaces and all the planes with which we are accustomed to tame the wild profusion of existing things.’ (Michael Foucault) I discovered this experience, existentially and transformationally, via a personal encounter:

˙ǝǝs plnoɔ I ʎluǝppns puɐ - ʇᴉ ƃuᴉsᴉlɐǝɹ uǝʌǝ ʇnoɥʇᴉʍ puᴉlq uǝǝq pɐɥ I ɟᴉ sɐ sɐʍ ʇI ˙pǝuᴉƃɐɯᴉ ǝʌɐɥ ɹǝʌǝu plnoɔ I ʇɐɥʇ sʎɐʍ uᴉ 'ǝɟᴉl ǝloɥʍ ʎɯ pǝƃuɐɥɔ ʇɐɥʇ ǝɔuǝᴉɹǝdxǝ lɐnʇᴉɹᴉds ƃuᴉʇɔɐdɯᴉ-ʎlpunoɟoɹd ɐ sɐʍ ʇI ˙uʍop-ǝpᴉsdn uǝǝq pɐɥ uǝɥʇ lᴉʇun plɹoʍ ǝɥʇ ƃuᴉǝǝs ɟo ʎɐʍ ǝloɥʍ ʎɯ ʇɐɥʇ ʎʇᴉɹɐlɔ ƃuᴉlʇɹɐʇs ɥʇᴉʍ ǝǝs ʎluǝppns plnoɔ I 'ɯᴉɥ ʍolloɟ oʇ pǝpᴉɔǝp puɐ Ɩᄅ ǝƃɐ ʇɐ snsǝſ oʇuᴉ ʎlpǝʇɔǝdxǝun uɐɹ I uǝɥM

Foucault speaks of ‘making the familiar strange and the strange familiar.’ I have danced my life with different languages and cultures: ‘When you study cultures that are different from your own, you necessarily end up seeing your own worldview in a new light.’ (Aimee Placas) I also do it via abstract photography or by playing with words, challenging my learned perceptions of what is real.

How do you stimulate, stretch and step out of your own thinking? How do you help others do it too?