Meta-paradigmal theory
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- For the purely scientific definition, see Meta-paradigm.
- The language in this article reflects the standard needed when speaking to a person with minimal understanding of the English language.
What is a paradigm?
While the name of the theory sounds complex, once you know what a paradigm is it's fairly easy.
The way of finding out if something is true in science and history is completely different. In science, you do an experiment to see if something is true, but in history such an experiment cannot be done. Instead you look for clues about what was true at the time by reading what people wrote, for example. By truth I mean to say "what works". So there are different ways of finding out the truth in different subjects, but there are also more problems than finding out the truth. Imagine you are with a friend. Every time you talk about the sky on a sunny day without clouds you and your friend both have to agree that the sky is blue, not red and certainly not purple.
The blueness of the sky has to be agreed between you and your friend before you can say that it's blue. Blueness is a concept, an idea that reflects a quality of blue. However, generally we don't begin a conversation by trying to find whether we both think that the sky is blue. We both 'know' that it is. It is that kind of knowledge that is included in the word paradigm. Some call it assumption. To assume something is just to think that something is something. Something what you think it is, for example we assume every day that when we wake up in the morning it would either be clear weather, raining, snowing, but certainly we don't wake up every morning expecting that the sun has suddendly stopped shining. This is also what a paradigm is, a way of viewing the world around us. You could try to convince your friend that sky is black with purple spots, but unless you are good at hypnosis then I doubt you will succeed.
A paradigm can also be used to say of a particular way of practicing something. An example would be that in Christianity prayer is done through kneeling, closing your eyes and talking with God, but in Buddhism it is done differently. Maths is done differently from Sports, and Art is done differently from Geography. We say that the paradigm of practicing Maths is different to the paradigm of practicing Art. Just think of a paradigm as a model, and think of the examples and it will all be O.K.
To summarize, a paradigm brings under its roof the different ways of doing, finding out the truth, knowing, and generally seeing something in a community of people. A paradigm is a model, and a set of assumptions, concepts, values and practices that belong to a group.
A slightly more advanced explanation of a paradigm
A paradigm in a meta-paradigmal theory can be used to refer to any kind of model, because of where thoughts come from. Some psychologists believe that thoughts are just a more solid way of believing, and the author of the article condones the use of that belief. In some ways, a paradigm in the context of the theory is more relevant in paradigm systems such as the different scientific disciplines, than in relation to a meta-paradigmal theory.
A meta-paradigm is?
To think about a meta-paradigm go back to the Lego blocks. Whatever you are building, the blocks you use are still the same. Whether you are making a small house or you are in a competition to build the largest Lego dragon ever, the building blocks are still the same. There are rules, and there are blocks. With those, you can build anything from Lego. There is a meta-paradigm and with that you can build any model, any paradigm. In other words, a meta-paradigm describes the way of building models, paradigms. Just like a meta-language is a way of building languages, a meta-paradigm is a way of building models.
However, it is sometimes not acceptable to use the word meta-paradigm on its own. Some people feel more comfortable with adding "theory" or "framework" at the end of it. That is simply trying to be clearer, as framework and model are the same word.
The theory, explained
The theory is a model for making a model. As such, there are no particular rules this model, but bear in mind the sensible and don't wander off too deep in the woods. Because a meta-paradigmal theory is a set of words that mean "a model to make a model" it's not useful until some practical uses of the theory are examined.
The theory can be used in a lot of practical situations, particularly religions. Because it is being used when talking about religions you'll sometimes hear it being called meta-paradigmal belief theory. This use is not the same as meta-paradigmal theory so it will be talked about later in more detail.
Some practical uses
In fact, you probably live with your own paradigm framework every day, and at some point in your life used a meta-paradigmal theory to make that paradigm. Even if you are not particularly religious, you have your very own model of the world in your head. Every time you talk to people, go outside and look around you you expect to see certain things. For example, when you go outside your house you expect it to look the same. When you go to work or to college you expect them to be there. But even if you are very religious, there are bound to be little things in the religion that you either can't agree with, or simply don't practice. Each of our models of the world is different to the person who lives next door, which is most likely different from any other people living on this planet.
Meta-paradigmal belief theory
Meta-paradigmal belief theory is a specific kind of meta-paradigmal theory that deals with what people believe. It is suggested that you clarify what belief and believing are before continuing. The topic is partially confusing, because you cannot describe the word belief without putting something like believe into the description. The great thing about a meta-paradigmal belief theory is that while a paradigmal belief theory is just a religion, a meta-paradigmal belief theory is a way for making religions. In other words, it is not limited to any particular religion.
Imagine you wanted to create an evil cult. The evilness of the cult is there because you want to worship maths and name your God the number 0. You are also completely insane, and say that to join this evil cult, you must believe that the number 0 is God. You must also believe that nothing except maths exists.
With the above exercise, you have just used meta-paradigmal belief theory to create your own religion. Of course, you didn't use a sensible concept. Neither did you use something which is at least a tiny bit believable. But the fact is, you have created your own religion.
How the belief framework links with XML
This part of the article deals with computer programming terminology.An XML document is written to describe some kind of data. The language in which you write the XML document is XML. It is a meta-language for defining your own "language" of writing documents to describe something.
Any kind of document definition is possible. The only limit is the mind and the technical limits of the computer system. Just like XML is a meta-language for describing data in a consice way, so a meta-paradigmal belief theory is just a meta-language for writing your own paradigmal belief theory, a model/framework for a religion.
Create your own system
If you ever want to create your own system using meta-paradigmal theory the only real requirement is that you must know what you want to create. As explained above, the most common use is for making a belief framework but it can be used to make anything you ever imagine.
Creating your own belief framework
You have already created your own belief framework, but there is one rule that chaos magicians suggest you use. The belief model has to be true. By true I meant what works but to say it technically the word 'fact' needs to be used. A 'fact' is a piece of knowledge that is true. In a similar way, because we are creating a belief model, the rule is that the belief has to work. For example, a working belief is "we live on planet Earth". A non-working belief would be "there are only 2 people living in the whole world".
In theory, you can believe everything you want, but in reality, you do not always do so. For example, you might want to believe there is no school or work on a non-holiday Tuesday, but tough luck, it's not a working belief.
Chaos Magic
This part deals with the theory of chaos magicWorking beliefs are used to a great extent in chaos magic. In such, the chaos magician uses them to help him(her)self to attain a specific goal. Another rule when working with chaos magic would be to use beliefs which do not conflict with each other, such as some parts of common religions for example.
In a typical cycle of using meta-paradigmal belief theory the magician "takes on" or makes a belief framework that is used to further his achievements, then discards it because either it is not applicable to the next goal or the success has been achieved.
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