Excerpt from The Paradigm Conspiracy, ‘Why Our Social Systems Violate Human Potential And How We Can Change Them’

Chapter One / Pain and The Power of Shifting Assumptions

Claiming Our Power

Acknowledging misery’s message empowers. Acknowledging paradigm-created pain isn’t defeat. It’s where recovery – a paradigm shift – starts. We connect with something real in us, and that reality link gives us the power to demand reality of ourselves, our systems, and our paradigm.

Rather than assuming that misery is our lot in life, we assume that pain conveys valid information about the paradigm we’ve internalized from our social systems. Instead of looking the other way, we square with how we feel in systems and stay grounded there. As we do, we trigger an inner shift. We question control-paradigm assumptions and begin to explore alternatives.

By shifting assumptions, we reclaim the one thing that’s always in our power: our inward lives. Instead of assuming that our inner voice is untrustworthy – the official, authoritarian message to us – we assume that our voice is a sure guide in helping us learn the truth.

This new assumption allows us to confront our pain in systems and to value this pain as an ally in healing both us and our systems. Investigating new assumptions, we end our tacit agreement to idolize our systems and to stay in denial about the toll they take on us. We do the unthinkable and name what’s going on.