Old and New Paradigms (II)
Written by Alfonso Elizondo
In the old paradigm decisions are taken at the top and that is where they draft the rules and regulations that approve laws, collect taxes and where parliaments, courts of justice, public administration and the huge headquarters of banks and companies are located. With the new paradigm the principle of subsidiarity is fully respected. People who run and manage their own affairs are trusted. Local communities are empowered to make their own decisions in matters of health, education, public order, transportation and all the activities necessary for the state to survive.
In the old paradigm, the scientific method is the only form of knowledge and truth. It is believed that what cannot be measured, analyzed and defined does not exist, while in the new paradigm there are many forms of knowledge, including the scientific form. Intuition, religion, feelings, mythology and orally transmitted histories are equally credible. In addition to empirical knowledge, the indigenous view is respected. The old paradigm is mechanistic. The Earth is compared to machines and is viewed as inanimate and dead matter.
In the new paradigm it is a living organism, a biotic community, a living system that self-regulates and self-sustains.
The old paradigm is dualistic, as defined by Descartes, and is followed by the majority. In this dualism, the mind is separate from matter and controls it. In the new paradigm, which is not dualistic, mind and matter are one and inseparable. And quantum physics is the physics of the new paradigm, where there is no distinction between the observer and the observed.
The old paradigm is hierarchical, regardless of whether the class system comes from the East or from the West. Both systems involve the idea of superiority and inferiority. Businesses operate within the framework of bosses and workers. Similarly, in religious orders there are multiple hierarchies. People suffer under hierarchies of color, race and gender, in addition to the fact that all species suffer because of this inequality. The new paradigm, however, is based on networks. All human beings are linked by a common evolution and origin. Everyone has a common humanity and the Earth is a network of life and a biotic community.
Satish Kumer, founder and director of the ecological studies programs at Schumacher College, says that under the old paradigm power is exercised through the military, money or knowledge, since controlling others is part of the mechanism of education, government and economic systems.
The new paradigm is based on participation. People participate in the process of life. They accept what is and what they can see, whatever it may be. They are open to the phenomena invented by the imagination, creativity and the changing forms and models of nature. This new paradigm is built on the foundations of the land, soul and society.
Addendum: But there is no doubt that the new paradigms will be created by a new society of young people in a new digital reality where feelings and emotions have disappeared.