A Stationary View - Is Fixation Worth it?

Don't you hate getting into a conversation only to realize the other person is so "fixated" in their position that there is no room for change. Of course, you may find me in the same situation, from time to time! I am not talking about scientific or physical bonding, but of the way some people seem to attach themselves to an opinion, an idea, a religious belief or a political philosophy. This is brought to my attention in the evenings when I watch Evan Solomon's TV show Power and Politics. It does not take long to figure out what political party each panel member adheres to, even if they don't say so!  They rarely seem to be able to set aside their prejudices and convictions, and discuss an issue on it's own merits. Defend, defend, defend! They will support their friends with outlandish arguments and seem totally closed to what might be another possibility. The bogus sport slogan 'to win at any cost', holds sway. Objectivity seldom finds a home in their discussions.

 Of course, the same can be said about many of the assumptions we all nourish   - if we are a thinking person. After all, we do have positions on everything whether we realize it or not! Now that is not a bad thing. People who do not have opinions and convictions are usually considered rather 'wishy-washy' and dull. The problem is we don't examine our assumptions, convictions and beliefs often enough. Or worse, when challenged, we close our minds and refuse to budge.

Having been raised in one Christian denomination, I was taught to believe it was the one and only "true" religion. All the rest were just wrong! Hence, just pity the poor folks who did not share our beliefs. Just sit back and be smug and secure and feel sorry for the other poor blokes who will definitely spend eternity in hell! But, I finally realized that we tend to deep freeze our positions on just about everything. It is just too easy to accept one situation, and not bother to challenge it. To be fixated is, in my opinion, the easy way to go and that is why we do it!

As I grew older, I soon learned that these 'fixated' opinions were, for want of a better word, immature. And I believe this is one of the main problems being identified by young people today, in this world of instant communications. They revolt, perhaps not really being sure why, but deep inside they just don't buy a fixated or static view to life. "Father doesn't always know best!" That dawning awareness is not so much a doubt or an asked question, one they can identify, but is rather a lived question.  In other words, when something fails to fit with their imposed view of the world, they simply throw it out as not being relevant.

As an octogenarian, I am finding that so much of what I held to be true, is changing and losing its value. On the other hand, I am very much aware that if so much of my past no longer has the deep meaning it had when I was young, then what is the meaning of my life now? Every where I previously hung my hat, well, it just ain't the same anymore. Jean Paul Sartre would say that life is a joke anyway so don't take it too seriously! Perhaps he had a point.

So what is the point? How do we tell what is correct and what is not? Does it really matter if we find the 'truth' or not? Or, is it a good thing that we adhere to some "truth" because if we don't, what is the alternative?

What I have concluded, during my eighty-plus years, is that in the end life is a mystery and truth is not simply conformity to some belief or theory or political opinion. Rather, truth, is the ability to open up to the world, to realize there is so little we truly understand. I never did like the definition that 'Man is a rational animal'. I don't mean to negate our ability to reason, but we are so much more than mathematical robots. We have to stop comparing computers to ourselves for heavens sake!

 I am discovering I am more myself when I am together with others, but most of all when I am close to my significant other. I need friends to be me. I need love to exist. And that's the mystery worth embracing and defending.....or at least is my current fixation!

And that's Dick's View of the World this Week