Reality is the result of communication, of the way people influence each other, as the communication scientist and psychologist Paul Watzlawick has recognized. In authoritarian systems, the scope for dialog is narrowed and a single perspective is propagated – even though it is actually only one of many possible points of view. The information that people in such a system can still exchange with each other is very limited – and not much creativity can be expected from society anymore. In free societies, on the other hand, countless perspectives can develop and enter into an open dialog with each other in order to find a viable way of working together - free society, free evolution. So for every person and every company, it is always about bringing their own unique perspective and creativity into the world: this is how creative self-expression and co-creation arise.
„There are many truths, because if there were only one, it would not be possible to paint a hundred different pictures on the same subject.“ Pablo Picasso
But people and companies often seek security, and the need for conformity dominates. Pressure and expectations come from different directions. The prevailing opinion dictates what is “right” and what is “wrong”, what is accepted and what is disapproved. In our attempt to find our way in a big, uncertain world, we therefore develop attitudes that give us a conforming framework, limited options and a false sense of security. In the face of the overwhelming amount of information available to us, we look for categorization and shortcuts. However, the map that we have stored in our minds through socialization, education, work, politics, media and marketing does not reflect reality, but only one of many possible perspectives on the world... “The map is not the territory”, as the constructivist Alfred Korzybski ingeniously put it. We can therefore regard all the internal and external dogmas and supposed rules as conventions – and start observing the world from a neutral point of view.
“The theory determines what we can observe,” as Albert Einstein so aptly put it. This becomes even more evident when we consider the findings of quantum physics. At this level of particles, from which the surface of the world perceived by our senses arises in the first place, even the laws of Newtonian physics and the alternative logic of Aristotle, which is considered a law in our Western culture, no longer apply, and consciousness comes to the fore: through the “observer effect”, we activate the quanta with our consciousness, so to speak. Reality is created in our minds. In every moment of our lives, we consciously or unconsciously choose the next moment we experience. And we can interpret it in different ways - just as you can look at a quantum as both a wave and a particle. It IS both, which should not be possible in the usual either-or logic of Western thinking. People and companies that have a transformative effect are those that think outside such boundaries. Not those who embody the beliefs and conventions of their time, but those who go beyond them, transcend them. They expand our reality and allow us to look at life through a new window – with the potential for a much better view...
With this blog, I would like to invite, inspire and encourage you to question the maps stored in your head and to gain fresh perspectives on so-called reality, because Socrates' “I know that I know nothing” is probably the wisest insight any human has ever had... And it is the basis of all creation, because it opens up space for the joy of discovery and the desire to create!