What we call the familiar …

Over the past few days I have begun reading Mary Catherine Bateson’s wonderful book, Peripheral Visions. learning Along the Way. At the same time I have been explring the weird and wonderful world of social media and updating the blogs I follow. To some extent, in the past, I have looked on all this “chatter” as a distraction or, at best, the occasional source of a good idea. This morning a read the following paragraph and realised (yet again!) just how important exposing myself to all sorts of different ideas is.

“What we call familiar is built up in layers to a structure known so deeply that it is taken for granted and virtually impossible to observe without the help of contrast. … Seen from a contrasting point of view or seen suddenly through the eyes of an outsider, one’s own familiar patterns can become accessible to choice and criticism. With yet another return, what seemed radically different is revealed as part of a common space.”

It occurs to me that, as well as all the benefits, there is also huge risk in diligently building up expertise and endlessly refining good ideas. Perhaps we sometimes need to throw what we know to the four winds and see what blows back in our faces.