Friday, May 13, 2005

Walking Lightly and Meaningfully and Changing One's Mind

One of the things we got round to talking about yesterday was this issue of emotional balance, of walking lightly but seriously, of carrying meaning and effort without stress. This started through a discussion of an article in a Sunday Magazine supplement that contained the phrase: "Militant Lactivists". We laughed at ourselves as most of us there recognised our previous selves in this label, but actually have we lost something now that we don't care who sees us feed our four year olds, and now that we are not minded to explain ourselves militantly whenever we see an uncomfortable or disagreeable glance?

In a way, I think we have. We are so laid back (generally speaking...there are still times when one's highly practiced martial art defences let one down and up goes the shirt for full exposure, and you think "NO, NO, NO"), but generally, we cannot be bothered to deal with the issue at all. The possibility that we would all become LLL leaders seems to have dwindled somewhat. The fire and the passion to put people right in this regard has gone. But there are people out there who still have weird ideas about all this and are still uncomfortable around the issue. What of them, since it may impact upon others and it may still make a big difference to some that others do not hold some form of prejudice?

Ideally, with an issue of merit...particularly for me, atm, the idea that children should not be made to go to school against their will, and should not be subject to unwarranted coercion, and more generally the matter of over-intrusive and over-large government, the importance of economic and political freedom, that we achieve this balance between desperation and torpor. It is a balance of accepting things, but seeing ways forward, of understanding the arguments, of listening to counter-arguments, of moving from these points in a way that can take people with you. This can involve creative leaps, or gradual argument...it all depends.

I cannot quite fathom what causes a change of mind. DH said something to me the other day that in the instant of picking up my glass and taking a swig, caused me to completely change my mind on an absolutely huge subject. Someone prior to this had been arguing the case that DH had just propounded and this person had presented the arguments in great detail and great wisdom over the period of about four months, but I just hadn't got it. Was it just something about DH's presentation, or was it the fact that the theories the other person had been elaborating upon had actually been subconsciously germinating and then suddenly made sense, when presented with the broader picture again? I just dunno.

Anyway, no real thanks to you guys! You threw me in a complete quandary with your new ideas...:)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

The power of vested interest always seems to help change minds. Gx

Carlotta said...

Yeah, I agree and, for example, it is never far from my lips to tell people that when you HE you can go on nice cheap holidays, can completely miss rush-hour traffic, can go to bed when you like, etc.

But on this occasion, my change of mind did not result from realising that I had a vested interest in so-doing. In fact, adopting this idea actually compromised some of my other beliefs. I changed my mind because I suddenly saw that it was doing something for the greater good and because it made political and epistemological sense.