Learning to disagree…
Learning to disagree takes continual effort. It builds the capacity to be discerning and the confidence to state your opinion with grace.
A recent example is in the redesign of my website. Not only have I had to vastly improve my knowledge of the software, I have also had to make multiple decisions about layouts. This required expending lots of mental energy overall and directing creative effort to build an online exhibition of my work. Actually, thank goodness for the assistance of AI. It did all the delving into the software’s help files which saved me days of searching. I also often disagreed with its suggestions about which technical route to follow. It is surprisingly confidence-building to disagree with an AI suggestion even though you may feel some niggles of doubt worming around.
Disagreement is not a negative thing. It is part of a living conversation. Each time I say ‘That is not quite the way I want to go’ I have to ask myself why. This requires me to articulate my viewpoint, not as justification, but as evidence that my own thinking is becoming clearer and more defined. It is a very useful exercise for reflection, recognition and articulation.
One recent exchange made me smile. The conversation was becoming increasingly poetic as we discussed the website. I eventually said, "You're waxing lyrical.”
The conversation continued even while I was revising this piece. A suggestion was made to describe "the conditions that enable good thinking." I disagreed. Not all thinking is good, and not all the conditions in which it occurs are ideal. The distinction mattered. The writing itself had become another example of discernment through disagreement.
Both conversations had become less about finding the perfect words and more about recognising the conditions that enable thinking to take place. There was recognition that there are times for careful analysis and times for more imaginative language. Neither is better than the other, but each has its place.
Perhaps that is one of the most important lessons of artistic practice.
Learning is not only about accepting new ideas. Sometimes it is about becoming confident enough to recognise when something does not belong and the preparedness to say it.