We cannot move to resolve a problem until we recognize the problem. Even if we feel the inequity, until we can pinpoint it or understand what creates it, we can neither arrive at an appropriate response nor act to nip it at its source.

If we had to evaluate each inequity that we face with an absolutely open mind, we could not learn from experience. Even if we had seen the same thing one hundred times before, we would not look to our memories to see what had turned out to be the source or what appropriate measures had been employed. We would be forced to consider every little friction that rubbed us the wrong way as if we have never seen it before. This is another form of inefficiency, as "those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it."

In such a scenario, we would not learn from our mistakes, much less our successes. But is that inefficiency? What if we meet an exception to the rules we have come to live by? If we rely completely on our life experience, when we face a new context in life, our whole paradigm may be inappropriate.

You Idiom!

We know the truisms, "Where there's smoke, there's fire," "Guilt by association," "One bad apple spoils the bunch," "The only good (fill in the blank) is a dead (fill in the blank)." In each of these cases we assume a different causal relationship that is generally examined in our culture. Each of these phrases asserts that when you see one thing, another thing will be there also, or will follow. Why do we make these assumptions? Because, in context, they are often true. But as soon as we apply them out of context they are just as likely false.

Associations in Space and Time

When we see something occur enough times without exception, our mind accepts it as an absolute. After all, we have never seen it fail! This is like saying that every time you put a piece of paper on hot metal it will burst into flame. Fine, but not in a vacuum! You need oxygen as well to create the reaction you expect.

In fact, every time we believe THIS leads to THAT or whenever we see THIS, THAT will also be present, we make assumptions without regard to context. And that is where characters get into trouble. A character makes associations in their backstory. Because of the context in which they gather their experiences, these associations always hold true. But then the situation (context) changes, or they move into new areas in their lives. Suddenly some of these assumptions are untrue!

Hold on to Your Givens!

Why doesn't a character (or person) simply give up the old view for the new? There are two reasons one will hold on to an outmoded, inappropriate understanding of the relationships between things. We'll outline them one at a time.

First, there is the notion of how many times a character has seen things go one way, compared with the number of times they've gone another. If a character builds up years of experience with something being true and then faces one time it is not true, they will treat that single false time as an exception to the rule. It would take as many false responses as there had been true ones to counter the balance.

Context is a Sneaky Thing

Of course one is more sensitive to the most recent patterns so an equal number of false items (or alternative truths) are not required when one is aware he has entered a new situation. However, situations often change slowly and even in ways we are not aware. So context is in a constant state of flux. If something has always proven true in all contexts up to this point then one is not aware of entering a whole new context. Rather, as we move in and out of contexts, a truism that was ALWAYS true may now be true sometimes and not true at other times. It may have an increasing or decreasing frequency of proving true or may tend toward being false for a while, only to tend toward being true again later. This style of dynamic context requires that something be seen as false as often as it has been seen as true. This produces a neutral point where one perspective is held evenly with the other.