Human beings are by nature ‘settlers’, I do not mean they tend to settle geographically but they tend to settle with an idea and resist change as much as possible. It often takes time for us to believe something, but once we believe something we tend to stick to it passionately and are very reluctant to re-examine or consider changing our view. We live in a world that runs and functions on a set of fundamental beliefs that are so ingrained in our minds and in our society that we seldom examine their origins or validity/ relevance for our lives. In a sense we really do not like to re-examine those fundamental beliefs because it takes a lot of research or digging into historical data but more importantly we are afraid of the possibility of discovering that we may not be right.
Once in a while on this journey of life all of us have those “Aha” moments that totally shock us with a new perspective about our world and the people living in it. It’s a moment when we feel like someone has suddenly turned on the light in a room that was dark for a long time; it’s an exciting moment because we can finally see what was hidden all our life from the eyes of our mind. A paradigm is often defined as a set of beliefs that act as a model or map for one’s sense of reality, it is also referred to as a worldview. In a sense paradigms are patterns of thinking which determine not only our belief but also our behavior and lifestyle.
“It takes time for human nature to let go of the old and embrace the new in a paradigm shift.” – Jay Rogers
During the last few decades a lot has been said and written about “Paradigm Shifts”. A paradigm shift occurs when an old paradigm or belief is seen as obsolete, irrelevant or false based on the discovery of a new paradigm. Human history is full of paradigm shifts, thank God for all those courageous individuals who dared to move out of their comfort zone to re-examine the current beliefs, but for these great individuals we would all be rubbing a stone against another stone to produce a spark. Thomas Kuhn in his book “The Structure of Scientific Revolutions” first used the term “Paradigm Shift” to describe a change in basic assumptions within the existing theory or understanding of science. Although Kuhn wrote explicitly about paradigm shifts in the physical sciences referring to the discoveries of Copernicus and Newton, the concept has been applied in many other fields like philosophy and religion since 1962.
“Our paradigms, correct or incorrect, are the source of our attitudes and behaviors, and ultimately our relationships with others.” – Stephen Covey
Jay Rogers – the founder of “The forerunner International” writes “It takes time for human nature to let go of the old and embrace the new in a paradigm shift. We see this pattern everywhere – the first automobiles looked a lot like “horseless carriages”; the first television sets looked like radios.” Today we have cars that look like jet planes and Televisions that look like wall hangers, all because of the men who were willing to let go of the old and advance in life. When Copernicus said that the sun was the center of our solar system, very few people believed him, it took almost fifty years for others to see and believe what Copernicus saw. Paradigm shifts do not happen overnight, they take a long time because most people cannot see what you see and sometime they just do not want to see what you see.
Stephen Covey gives a great example of the power of paradigm shifts in his book “7 habits of highly effective people”. He notes “Until the germ theory was developed, a high percentage of women and children died during childbirth, and no one could understand why. In military skirmishes, more men were dying from small wounds and diseases than from the major traumas on the front lines. But as soon as the germ theory was developed, a whole new paradigm, a better, improved way of understanding what was happening made dramatic, significant medical improvement possible…paradigm shifts move us from one way of seeing the world to another. And those shifts create powerful change. Our paradigms, correct or incorrect, are the source of our attitudes and behaviors, and ultimately our relationships with others.”
Kuhn says, two people who are working within different paradigms are almost, in a sense, in different universes. The apostle Paul had some dramatic experiences in life that shifted his paradigms several times in life. He was once the prime leader who persecuted the early church because of his beliefs. He then believed in Christ because of his encounter with Jesus and became the apostle to the gentiles. Peter on the other hand was already a long time follower and an apostle of Jesus for several years. However, Peter and the other apostles failed to see what Paul could see and that caused serious divisions and crisis in the early church (Acts 15). As the body of Christ our reluctance or incapability to see things from a new or different perspective can hinder our accomplishment of God’s mission. Let’s join the Psalmist in praying “Open my eyes that I may see…” (Ps 119:18).
Our reluctance or incapability to see things from a new or different perspective can hinder our accomplishment of God’s mission.
– – Author: Rev. Francis Burgula – –
