Start With A Story: How To Change The Mind
How To Change The Mind
Neither revolution nor reformation can ultimately change a society, rather you must tell a new powerful tale, one so persuasive that it sweeps away the old myths and becomes the preferred story, one so inclusive that it gathers all the bits of our past and our present into a coherent whole, one that even shines some light ... If you want to change a society then you have to tell an alternative story. -Ivan Illich
It's the hardest thing in the world....
To change a mind made up seems near-impossible. But why?
Over the years, we gather and filter data and experiences, adding our own meanings, making assumptions, drawing conclusions and adopting beliefs (see "The Ladder of Inference” below) about the way things have to be (i.e. Paradigms), which directly impacts how we respond to the world. The more entrenched the paradigm, the more it effects what we're able to see (the "Reflexive Loop") and the cycle continues.
And perhaps few paradigms are quite so entrenched as "the way 'church' has to be."
So how do we shift a paradigm?
If you start by attacking the set of beliefs, you probably won’t be too productive and you definitely won’t gain any influence. You have to begin much further down the ladder. You have to start by telling a story—one so radically different yet true that it challenges others to wrestle with their selected reality.
In this video, Joe shares a short and little-known chapter on shifting paradigms through living a different story.
