Mindset

[talon]

I know Numenists weren't ahead of our time in our thinking and in the various things we set up to create the model and foundation of Numenism because much of this information existed back then.

It's being presented as totally new and exciting, and I suppose, for all you young whippersnappers, it probably is new and exciting.

There's a piece in either CNN or the NYT or Time (I didn't mark it because I was interrupted and now I can't find it) about how a person can be innovative. Mind, what I'm about to say may or may not have appeared in today's article, this is stuff I remember from back in the 60's, stuff we used in Numenism to help create it.

Numenism works in layers and through patterning. It explores all fields and tests the information to see if it fits in more than one area and if new information pops up when something from psychology is applied to architecture, or something from history is applied to solar studies. If we can't test something across multiple disciplines, then it probably won't fit in Numenism. We connect unrelated fields and questions together by asking "why not?" and "what if?" and we come up with answers that have held up over time and been tested by others to get the same answers we did (and do - it isn't all past tense with us).

A lot of this comes from observation as much as study and research. We pay attention to things happening around us all the time. We may not comment on it, but we se it and store it away to examine later, to compare to other things we already know and to experiment with it, testing it out and seeing if it will fit into Numenism.

We are constantly testing our religious theories and intuitions, comparing them to various fields of science and seeing how it all holds up. There probably isn't a unified field theory for religions, but I think Numenism is one of the few religions that may come close.

Numenism seeks out information from as many sources as possible - people who have different lifestyles, different fields of science, issues in one place may well have already been solved in other places, so we seek out how businesses or communities have solved their issues, and we apply it to Numenism, take it for a test drive, and see how it all goes.

We apply that to ourselves, too, by constantly seeking to learn new skills and new ways of doing things. Numenism - and Numenists, by default - is a religion of change, of adaptation and innovation.

As a result of this constant questioning and searching and experimenting, we often find there are more than 2 choices. There can be three or even 10 choices. Usually, only one is optimal, but by not limiting ourselves to just either/or, we have a freedom that appears to be increasingly rare in a nation that is complaining we have too many choices[1] , too much freedom[2], and too much autonomy [3].

Sometimes I wonder if Numenism is behind the times or ahead of it, it certainly doesn't seem to fit with today's zeitgeist.

And that brings me to another mindset that is a part of Numenism. It doesn't belong to just Numenism, but it is almost intrinsic in Numenism: being true.

This doesn't mean speaking the truth, although that can certainly be part of it. It has much more to being true to one's ideals and living one's beliefs.

In some ways, I think many of the people out there in our country who are busy trying to suppress any opposing point of view are being true to themselves, and the rest of America is busy trying to make friends of them by acquiescing and placating them in the hopes that they can then get on with their lives.

I don't think that will happen, because if we don't remain true to ourselves, our ideals, and allow others to impose their ideals on us, we will be a very unhappy nation.

I don't think those who are trumpeting on about how others should behave, attempting to impose their worldview on all of us, are happy. I think they are unhappy because they are doing their best to manage other people's feelings and lives without ever getting in touch with their own feelings and their own lives. It's ridiculous to think anyone can legislate or manage someone else's emotions. It's arrogant and manipulative and ultimately very immature. We can only manage our own emotions. When we are in touch with who we are and how we feel about things, we can be aware of how others may be feeling so when we have to speak up, we can do so in an adult fashion, with mindfulness and concern. Things may get sticky and tense, and we may end up having to agree to disagree, but we will be freed from having to play a blame game and we will be free of anger, too.

What would you do if you saw a parent yelling at their child(ren) in public? Me, quaking in my shoes and feeling sick at my stomach, I'd speak up and tell the parent that I understood how children can be frustrating and stressful but we worked hard to become adults and we need to take pride in acting like adults, especially in public.

A lot of the time, I get yelled at, too, but I'm not trying to change the parent, just let them know I commiserate with their circumstances and expect better of them. I don't yell back, I don't argue. I spoke because my ideals won't let me watch an adult acting that immaturely.

Others will get defensive or be offended or upset, because I know when I'm behaving badly in public and someone points it out to me, I'm not always the bastion of courtesy I should be. But I go home and think about it, and if I truly was misbehaving, I don't do it again. Every now and then, I wasn't the one misbehaving, it was the other person who chose to be offended over something I was doing/wearing that wasn't offensive to anyone else but them - like wearing a headscarf and not being Muslim[4] or walking a Chihuahua in a public park where dogs are allowed[5].

On reading this over, I can parse it down to a few talking points about the Numenist mindset:

Be observant.
Ask lots of questions.
Experiment with the answers.
Shop those answers around to other areas and fields and see what happens.
Manage our own feelings and be mindful of others'.
Be real.

None of this is new or groundbreaking or earthshattering.

[1] I agree we have too many variations of the same thing, but that's not real choice - take toothpaste. We have hundreds of brands and varieties of toothpastes, but in the end, they are all toothpaste. There are more ways than a toothbrush and toothpaste to clean teeth so the real choice here isn't what toothpaste will we use, but what method of toothcleaning will we use: toothbrush and paste/powder/abrasive fluid, scraper and floss, polisher, sound waves, or water.

[2] Specifically the freedom of speech, of assembly, and of being able to bring our grievances before our government - too many people think it's OK to stifle these things, to prevent others who have something different to say from speaking. The most recent examples are the anti-healthcare people who refuse to allow those who have different experiences of our current healthcare system to be heard in the debate of what reforms our health care needs. They are preventing people with different perspectives the freedom to speak, to assemble peacefully, or to be heard by our government. They want only their voices heard.

[3] As exemplified by those people who dare to live a different lifestyle than that approved by the objectors - gay marriages, polyandry, polyamory, single parents, blended racial families, non-mainstream religioes adherence, academics not cloistered at universities, and so on.

[4] Hint: Muslims aren't the only people to wear headscarves

[5] An amazing number of people seem to feel one shouldn't walk Chihuahuas in parks around here.