the bridges we cross vs the bridges we burn

 

My current WIP is, roughly speaking, about breaking away from learned and/or conditioned beliefs and behaviors that no longer ring true to us...and why we should. 

Given today's political climate, this is relevant as we encounter people whose deeply entrenched convictions offend our beliefs about justice, lawfulness, and compassion. We wonder if there is anything we can say or do to change the minds and the behaviors of MAGA supporters who discriminate against whole classes of human beings, who have withdrawn support from the neediest among us, and who put our health at risk. What would it take to convince them otherwise? Is it possible to change their world view?

"Sometimes you change your mind.

Sometimes your mind changes you."

~Binyomin Scheiman~

When we learn something new or are exposed to a different way of thinking or responding to life's twists and turns, it can lead to a shift in perspective so that we see the world differently. This comports with the principles of Transformational Learning Theory, introduced by Jack Mezirow, a sociologist and Emeritus Professor of Adult and Continuing Education at Columbia University, in the 1970s.

Transformational learning considers how people make sense of life. It refers to the ways we adjust our thinking based on the acquisition of new information...how we make sense of what happens to us and around us. It is based on the contradictions between newly acquired knowledge and previous knowledge, and how this alters our way of thinking about an idea or situation. These changes can arise from sudden moments of insight, or they can unfold gradually as the learner reflects upon what they have learned, or observed, or experienced, and how that affects their beliefs. Their world view.

Mezirow taught that in childhood, learning is formative, meaning it is derived from formal sources of authority such as parents and teachers, and from socialization including adherence to cultural norms and expectations.

In adulthood, on the other hand, learning can become transformative, as adults acquire the ability to discern distortions in their own beliefs, feelings, and attitudes. This opens the door to change.

How does this happen? Mezirow believed that the change occurs when we face what he labelled "a disorienting dilemma", an experience that does not fit our expectations or make sense to us without a substantial change in our world view, our conditioned assumptions, our previously held beliefs, or our tightly held convictions. It forces us to reconsider our beliefs in a way that brings us into alignment with what we have learned.

"Sometimes the hardest thing in life

is to know which bridge to cross and 

which bridge to burn."

~Daniel Russell~

Transformational learning refers to the ways we develop and use critical self-reflection to adjust our thinking based on the acquisition of new information. There’s nothing surprising about that. We do it all the time. For example, we might quit our job when we learn that our boss is employing unethical or illegal business practices. The thing that sets transformative learning apart from, say, what we learn from reading a book or taking a class is the fact that transformative learning always involves a "disorienting dilemma".  It can be painful. What we learn, or witness, or experience leaves us stunned. Confused. Unsure. It forces us to ask several questions:

• What have I been thinking all this time? Why?
• What is important to me?         
• What am I really committed to?
• What is preventing me from accomplishing what I am committed to?
• What path will I take going forward?

Let's consider a specific example...something that directly affects us as health care providers: the theoretical case of a diehard MAGA supporter who loses his unvaccinated child or grandchild to a totally preventable disease, such as measles or RSV. He was convinced that RFK was right about the dangers of vaccination, until he was forced to confront the truth.

 
Mezirow describes ten phases in the process of transformational learning:

1.     Encountering a disorienting dilemma...in this case, the totally preventable death of a child

2.     Self-examination accompanied by feelings of guilt or shame, in this situation, for having rejected the science behind vaccination

3.     Critical assessment of the epistemic, sociocultural, or psychic assumptions that guided one's choices

4.     Recognition that one’s discontent and the process of transformation are shared…that others have successfully navigated a similar change, that others have changed their minds about the risks and benefits of vaccination

5.     Exploration of options for new roles, relationships, or actions...such as transforming from an antivaxer to an advocate for vaccination

6.     Planning a course of action

7.     Acquisition of knowledge and skills for implementing one’s plans

8.     Provisional experimentation with new roles, such as encouraging others to reconsider the issue

9.     Building competence and self-confidence in new roles and relationships

10.  A reintegration into one’s life based on the conditions dictated by one’s new perspective
 
While Mezirow's theory was intended to reference learning in adult education, it is applicable across a broad spectrum of behavior, thought, and experience. It is at work our relationships, in our careers, in our faith, and now, in our politics.

I wouldn't wish a "disorienting dilemma" on anyone except that it might lead to the kind of transformation we can, otherwise, only hope for.

 "When the wind of change blows, 

some people build walls.

Others build windmills."

~Chinese Proverb~

jan