How  is a paradigms formed?
by Safih Choat

To get to the heart of what drives complementary therapies, we need to gradually, like an onion, remove our skins, that is, our barriers, defenses, which limit and prevent the possibility of a deeper vision of Life and everything it involves.

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Since we were little, as we have seen tirelessly in this e-book, we learn about ourselves according to what was passed on to us by our parents, who learned through our grandparents, great-grandparents, who learned from life experience, from what was transmitted by their friends, by the media, by TV, by the news, by the world around us.

Despite the formation that governs us and considering the meaning of this word, as previously stated, we are living and sensitive beings, a sensitivity that religion, although it has the meaning of "reconnecting", ended up distancing us from our own soul, from our own essence.

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And what is life without Essence ?

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It is this essence that guides these therapies, not only the therapies, but that, by rescuing them, perceiving them, they provide us with a new meaning to everything we do and practice.

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Without focusing, knowing, accessing our own essence, we distance ourselves from the truth and thus, we become puppets of everything that is transmitted to us, without exploring, seeking new ways, perhaps more harmonious and meaningful...

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So, let us now stop to ask ourselves, complementing the previous exercise, and other suggestive attitudes that were passed on in previous articles, how we react to everything that is new, and, like the onion skins, let us now get rid of one more: 

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How paradigms are formed 

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Paradigm = Model, Pattern, example.

A group of scientists placed five monkeys in a cage and, in the middle of it, a ladder with bananas on top. 

 

Every time one of the monkeys started climbing the ladder, an automatic device sprayed ice-cold water over the other monkeys. 

 

After a while, every time any of the monkeys tried to climb the ladder, the others would beat him up (thus avoiding the freezing water). 

 

Obviously, after a while, none of the monkeys dared to climb the ladder, despite the temptation.

 

The scientists then decided to replace one of the monkeys. The first thing the new monkey did was try to climb the ladder. 
Immediately the others began to beat him.

 

After several beatings, the new member of this community learned not to climb the ladder, although he never knew why.
A second monkey was replaced and the same thing happened to him as to the first. The first monkey that had been replaced participated, along with the others, in the beating. 

 

A third monkey was exchanged and the same (beating, etc.) was repeated. 

A fourth and fifth monkey were replaced, one at a time, at suitable intervals, and the beatings of the newcomers were repeated when they attempted to climb the ladder.

 

What was left was a group of five monkeys who, although they never received a cold shower, continued to beat up any monkey that tried to climb the ladder.

 

If you could talk to the monkeys and ask them why they beat up people who tried to climb the ladder... I bet their answer would be,
"I don't know - that's just the way things are done around here."
Doesn't that, or that behavior, that response, sound familiar to you???

 

An experiment similar to this, for those who studied at university, in related areas, such as psychology, I believe has been experienced a lot...

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I remember that when I was studying Psychology, there was a PGE-I discipline, General and Experimental Psychology, which included experimental classes on rats. I didn't like the exercises at all, but at the time there was still no publicity about conscientious objection. That was in the mid-1990s, more than 18 years ago...

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In each class, I questioned the need for that painful and meaningless training, thinking that often a book would do its part much better in illustrating through this discarding of lives.

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The experiment consisted of leaving the rat deprived of water for a few hours, then placing it in a cage which had a device that, when activated, released a few drops of water.

 

After the mouse "discovered" the device, he pressed it like crazy, desperately...and the water followed.

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After a few days, the "order" for training changed, from three touches on the device to release water drops, to five touches, and finally, randomly.

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Later, with the rat already confused, but insistent on learning logic and also dying of thirst, we moved on to the negative reinforcement exercise, where the device, even when pressed, no longer provided water but rather an electric shock...

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Imagine the situation. For what? Why, my God?

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And the worst part... We are like these mice, where most of the time we don't even stop to absorb what a situation can teach us in depth and with that, try to modify it, or change it for the better.

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Whether faced with an experiment, or an apparently simple experience, we accept it without even projecting ourselves or getting involved enough, so that we therefore do not behave the same way in life, which, by the way, agreeing to an experiment like this, knowing the alternatives today, is simply acting like the mice themselves... manipulated without self-criticism...

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And so, by undertaking a series of desensitizing experiments, in the case of students in related areas, how can we rescue our essence, and thus how can we start using these "subtle" therapies?

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As for the reason for the experiment... It simply served to "visualize" the effects of positive or negative reinforcement when later applied to people, in terms of conditioning/teaching. Wouldn't it be easier to use a much more sensitive example, such as a training video lesson, for example?

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Well...as for the rat, (Gregory was his name), obviously after so much deprivation and useless suffering, he was thrown away to the snakes...

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Experimentation classes? They continue in the most renowned universities...

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Shouldn't we ask ourselves: " WHY DO WE KEEP DOING WHAT WE DO IF THERE IS ANOTHER WAY TO DO IT ?"

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How many Gregories, rats, monkeys, dogs, cats, and so many other animals will need to serve us to exemplify situations in which technology provides so freely and has proven to be effective?

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Do we want to continue like Gregory when faced with life's situations?

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"To Gregório and so many other little lives wasted for the sake of a senseless and vile illustration, my humble apologies for not knowing what could have been done in a more ethical way in this situation: CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION....

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To the students, may this testimony be a negative reinforcement without deprivation or electroshocks so that they become more aware of Life"\

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 References:

* PPS sent by Marcia Priolli and adapted for this e-book.