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T
HE
P
OWER OF A
P
ARADIGM
S
HIFT
Perhaps the most important insight to be gained from the perception
demonstration is in the area of paradigm shifting, what we might call the “Aha!”
experience when someone finally “sees” the composite picture in another way.
The more bound a person is by the initial perception, the more powerful the
“Aha!” experience is. It’s as though a light were suddenly turned on inside.
The term
paradigm shift
was introduced by Thomas Kuhn in his highly
influential landmark book,
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
Kuhn shows
how almost every significant breakthrough in the field of scientific endeavor is
first a break with tradition, with old ways of thinking, with old paradigms.
For Ptolemy, the great Egyptian astronomer, the earth was the center of the
universe. But Copernicus created a paradigm shift, and a great deal of resistance
and persecution as well, by placing the sun at the center. Suddenly, everything
took on a different interpretation.
The Newtonian model of physics was a clockwork paradigm and is still the
basis of modern engineering. But it was partial, incomplete. The scientific world
was revolutionized by the Einsteinian paradigm, the relativity paradigm, which
had much higher predictive and explanatory value.
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.
The United States today is the fruit of a paradigm shift. The traditional
concept of government for centuries had been a monarchy, the divine right of
kings. Then a different paradigm was developed—government of the people, by
the people, and for the people. And a constitutional democracy was born,
unleashing tremendous human energy and ingenuity, and creating a standard of
living, of freedom and liberty, of influence and hope unequaled in the history of
the world.
Not all paradigm shifts are in positive directions. As we have observed, the
shift from the Character Ethic to the Personality Ethic has drawn us away from
the very roots that nourish true success and happiness.
But whether they shift us in positive or negative directions, whether they are
instantaneous or developmental, 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 sources of our attitudes and behaviors,
and ultimately our relationships with others.
I remember a mini-paradigm shift I experienced one Sunday morning on a
subway in New York. People were sitting quietly—some reading newspapers,
some lost in thought, some resting with their eyes closed. It was a calm, peaceful
scene.
Then suddenly, a man and his children entered the subway car. The children
were so loud and rambunctious that instantly the whole climate changed.
The man sat down next to me and closed his eyes, apparently oblivious to the
situation. The children were yelling back and forth, throwing things, even
grabbing people’s papers. It was very disturbing. And yet, the man sitting next to
me did nothing.
It was difficult not to feel irritated. I could not believe that he could be so
insensitive as to let his children run wild like that and do nothing about it, taking
no responsibility at all. It was easy to see that everyone else on the subway felt
irritated, too. So finally, with what I felt was unusual patience and restraint, I
turned to him and said, “Sir, your children are really disturbing a lot of people. I
wonder if you couldn’t control them a little more?”
The man lifted his gaze as if to come to a consciousness of the situation for
the first time and said softly, “Oh, you’re right. I guess I should do something
about it. We just came from the hospital where their mother died about an hour
ago. I don’t know what to think, and I guess they don’t know how to handle it
either.”
Can you imagine what I felt at that moment? My paradigm shifted. Suddenly I
saw
things differently, and because I
saw
differently, I
thought
differently, I
felt
differently, I
behaved
differently. My irritation vanished. I didn’t have to worry
about controlling my attitude or my behavior; my heart was filled with the man’s
pain. Feelings of sympathy and compassion flowed freely. “Your wife just died?
Oh, I’m so sorry! Can you tell me about it? What can I do to help?” Everything
changed in an instant.
Many people experience a similar fundamental shift in thinking when they
face a life-threatening crisis and suddenly see their priorities in a different light,
or when they suddenly step into a new role, such as that of husband or wife,
parent or grandparent, manager or leader.
We could spend weeks, months, even years laboring with the Personality Ethic
trying to change our attitudes and behaviors and not even begin to approach the
phenomenon of change that occurs spontaneously when we see things
differently.
It becomes obvious that if we want to make relatively minor changes in our
lives, we can perhaps appropriately focus on our attitudes and behaviors. But if
we want to make significant, quantum change, we need to work on our basic
paradigms.
In the words of Thoreau, “For every thousand hacking at the leaves of evil,
there is one striking at the root.” We can only achieve quantum improvements in
our lives as we quit hacking at the leaves of attitude and behavior and get to
work on the root, the paradigms from which our attitudes and behaviors flow.
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