Natural versus Normalised

So many of the things we think of as normal or natural are just habits or customs we forget to put much thought into. One of the most important things we can do as humans is to question things, investigate why people say we should be doing a certain thing in a certain way. Does that really make sense to us? Is there another way to look at it?

I’m working on a few different pieces of writing at the moment, and the idea of ‘natural’ versus ‘normalised’ is something I want to look into. I’ve always questioned things. I can remember when I was nine, starting to question what I’d been taught about Christianity. It’s just never made sense to me to go along with beliefs when I’m not sure about the point of it, or whether people telling me about something actually know what they’re talking about. I don’t care what anyone else believes in, provided it doesn’t harm anyone, but for me to believe something I need to make sense of it myself. This is why Buddhism makes so much sense to me, it encourages people to question everything, make sure for yourself that something seems right to you and is right for you.

It’s not just about religion or ways of being in the world, it’s about everyday things like what and how we eat, the meaning we give to thoughts and feelings, how intolerant we are of things that are different from how we expect them to be.

The list is endless, but I want to try to focus on certain topics…going to school being an obvious one for me to start with because it’s been such a big subject in my life. I know it can be really hard to have the way you do things or think questioned, but sometimes it’s triggering because we realise we don’t really know why we do a certain thing or think a certain way. So, maybe this is for the more open minded people who don’t take themselves too seriously. Being stuck and adamantly set one one way of thinking tends to do a lot of harm, even the best scientists know that just because something is proven, it doesn’t mean it won’t one day be disproven. Often, for a scientific study that shows one outcome, there’ll be another that shows the opposite.

So many of the things I do and teach, and the way I choose to live, require people to see things in a different way. It seems like a good idea to write a blog addressing the way we can look at things differently to enhance our own lives, our connection with other people, and reduce the need for anger, resentment, conflict, jealousy, and many other damaging emotions.

I’d be interested to know if there are any topics other people would like discussed. Do you have any topics you’d be interested in looking into in this way to think more about how normal it really is or how it might have just become how we have become accustomed to doing things or thinking? Anything at all. For example, what’s something you were taught in school that doesn’t make sense to you now?