80. Permission To Speak

One of the most common blocks to knowledge creation is coercion. Coercion relies on authority rather than reason. It is founded on force instead of explanations. It declares that it is not okay to disagree or disobey, but that philosophy is wrong. As rational people, we will exercise our right to be intolerant of intolerance in any form and from any source especially ourselves.

We are intolerant of aspects of us that we are ashamed of. We are intolerant of our interpretations of experiences we had. We are intolerant of our emotions. After all as adults, we have responsibilities and cannot sulk in bed all day. Self-soothing is for babies only, we think.

What about our responsibility to ourselves? We have problems that we need to solve yet we handicap our best tool for creating solutions - creativity. That is what it means to be intolerant of ourselves, to give in to coercion. We choose to blindly follow without understanding the reasons why and that is not only irrational but anti-rational.

In the spirit of tolerance, emotional regulation becomes more about understanding than control. It allows every part of you to speak as is their right, and when a part or parts of you behave in ways you disagree with it is not insubordination requiring a court marshall or worse treason resulting in hanging. It is a request by that part/s for permission to speak freely. The lesson that emerges does not concern the approval of this request but that the situation degraded to where it exists. No part of you should require permission to voice its opinion.

"Do I contradict myself? Very well, then I contradict myself, I am large, I contain multitudes."
- Walt Whitman