I once ingested cicada skin.
It was an ingredient in the mysterious potion that my mother had concocted for me. For the last five years, she has been tinkering with traditional Chinese medicine, self-studying acupuncture, taking people's pulse and describing it as slippery, dull, or vibratory. What makes it all very interesting is that, her interest in the traditional methods grew out of her 30 years of experience as a doctor and researcher in clinical medicine.
She and I both believe that, the better acquainted we are with one particular perspective to know the world, the more aware we are of its limitations, thus we expand outward for new ways of seeing and experiencing. For this reason, my parents left China for Canada in their mid-forties; for this reason, I left traditional engineering to wade in the shadowy waters of policy making after completing my first master degree.
In the spirit of this conscious integration of perspectives, what I try to accomplish within Connections is to maintain a healthy multiplism of sources and methods when it comes to data, information and knowledge. Maybe, just maybe, we will be getting closer to wisdom.
Where do I find the sources for my ruminations?
There are no perspectives that are beyond me or beneath me to look into. Places where I draw inspirations include but are not limited to:
- peer-reviewed scientific literature
- independent and commercial publications
- folk traditions
- societal and religious norms
- formal interviews
- informal conversations
- the internet hive mind
- music, film and visual art
- direct experiences grounded in subjectivity, particular time and space
How do I engage with such widely differing forms of input?
Depending on the nature of the data/information/knowledge at hand, I ask myself three questions, in different orders.
- is it true? i.e. can the information presented be verified, through fact checking, replication, triangulation of methods or comparison against other sources?
- is it good? i.e. what are the values, normative assumptions that are required to uphold this theory? Which groups have benefited or experienced losses from the use of this information? Is it something that I would like to live by?
- is it beautiful? i.e. what feelings and experiences does this idea evoke in me? Does it enrich my understanding of other concepts? Does it take me by awe and reveal the world in previously unseen ways?
Given the nature of this space, a blog, a construction of words, there are other dimensions of experiences, mostly non-verbal, that cannot be adequately included here. Here I take the liberty to remind myself and my readers to be on active lookout for those experiences. We need them as much as we need food, books and each other.