“Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.” Albert Einstein
Common sense sounds like practical wisdom. Its not. Its more about what we assume is true than what is actually so. Mark Twain observed the problem with most of us is that we know to much that isn't so.
And so it is with what we think of as common sense. It tells us more about our prejudices than our authentic understanding of reality. Consensus, convention and common understanding provide a framework for agreement but preclude us from looking beyond the boundaries created by these social contracts.
So how about a little fun with reality?
No, I'm not asking you to engage in mind altering behaviors. Well, actually I am. It won't require drugs, alcohol or drumming. Only the willingness to enter the world of paradoxes and stand on the end what you think is true.
A willingness to oppose so called common sense. But only for a moment. Just long enough to sit in the unknown and experience what it feels like to not know. To live with the energy of the unknown. But only for a moment. A benign suspension of the idea we actually know what we are talking about. I know, I know...you are really smart. You really do know. But in the paradoxical path of wisdom this proclivity to fill in the blanks is anathema to the larger understanding of reality.
What I am suggesting is that paradoxes are potential gateways between the physical and the metaphysical....between heaven and earth. A portal that can connect us with deeper levels of understanding and provide us with a new understanding of common sense. A paradoxical wisdom.
The edge of reality is found in paradox. Come to the edge...and fly.
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