Have you heard someone say they have ‘deconstructed’ this or that from their lives? Have you wondered what ‘deconstructionism’ is? This week’s blog post explores the concept of ‘deconstructing’ and its empowering affect.
According to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), ‘deconstructionism’ is “…a term tied very closely to postmodernism [;] deconstructionism is a challenge to the attempt to establish any ultimate or secure meaning in a text. Basing itself in language analysis, it seeks to ‘deconstruct’ the ideological biases (gender, racial, economic, political, cultural) and traditional assumptions that infect all histories, as well as philosophical and religious ‘truths.’ Deconstructionism is based on the premise that much of human history, in trying to understand, and then define [;] reality has led to various forms of domination - of nature, of people of color, of the poor, of homosexuals, etc. Like postmodernism, deconstructionism finds concrete experience more valid than abstract ideas and, therefore, refutes any attempts to produce a history, or a truth. In other words, the multiplicities and contingencies of human experience necessarily bring knowledge down to the local and specific level, and challenge the tendency to centralize power through the claims of an ultimate truth which must be accepted or obeyed by all” (https://www.pbs.org).
‘Deconstructionism,’ as the term for this philosophy, was expressed in the 1960s by Jacques Derrida, a French philosopher. The term “...is used in contemporary humanities and social sciences to denote a philosophy of meaning that deals with the ways that meaning is constructed and understood by writers, texts, and readers. One way of understanding the term is that it involves discovering, recognizing, and understanding the underlying — and unspoken and implicit — assumptions, ideas, and frameworks that form the basis for thought and belief. It has various shades of meaning in different areas of study and discussion, and is, by its very nature, difficult to define without depending on ‘un-deconstructed’ concepts” (https://contemporarythinkers.org/jacques-derrida/).
Being a postmodernist, myself, deconstructionism resonates with me. What can be deconstructed? Cultural traits, generational traits, gender traditions, religious beliefs/indoctrination, standards and expectations, mores, norms, lifestyle, political traits, appearance, decor, wardrobe, work / career, housing - and these are just a few of the aspects of life that can be examined and deconstructed. What are the advantages and disadvantages of deconstructing?
Advantages of deconstructing some aspects of our lives allows us to break free from conventional indoctrination: “The advantage of deconstruction is that [people are] encouraged to question traditional assumptions and prejudices. For example, there are many assumptions regarding binary oppositions. Many of our thoughts and opinions are fixed in these binary oppositions, such as man/woman, white/black, west/east, good/evil, etc. In these binary oppositions, the first in the pair, man, white, etc., is considered to be the norm and therefore superior, while the second, woman, black, etc., is considered deviant and inferior. We tend to think that these oppositions are definite and fixed, whereas in reality they are often blurred and are in fact artificial. The power of ideology is that it puts forward ideas as natural and factual, but deconstruction helps us to see that they are not natural at all” (https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-advantages-disadvantages-deconstruction-82963).
When we examine our cultural, familial, religious standards, expectations, biases, indoctrinations, and preferences, we discover truth - our truth that has gone through a questioning of what is fact and what is fiction to us. When we discover and then live our truth, we live authentically with integrity. If we simply and unconsciously believe what we were told is truth, fact, and fiction, we have given over our ability to think for ourselves. When we deconstruct what is not truth for us, we experience true freedom. When we examine all beliefs and assumptions, we know what to discard and what to keep rather than blindly accepting what is. When we deconstruct some aspects of our indoctrination - what we’ve been told to believe, we will eliminate the ‘shoulds’ from our lives.
Disadvantages of deconstructing aspects of life, “…makes truth or knowledge impossible because everything can be deconstructed. So, truth and knowledge are only relative and often subjective” (https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-advantages-disadvantages-deconstruction-82963). Some may feel pushback from people within the established institutions in our lives: culture, family, religion, work. We may lose friends and become detached from family members who hold beliefs that no longer resonate with us. We may be ostracized by those traditional institutions that are often intertwined into the routine, the mores of the culture and institutions.
From my experience, the advantages and disadvantages of deconstructing aspects of life, the heavier weight is on the advantages. After thorough examination, what have you deconstructed or plan to deconstruct in your life? After deep study, what do you plan to keep in your life?
Here are some examples of what I have deconstructed, or are , currently examining:
* traditional gender roles - people can fulfill all sorts of roles that had been traditionally ‘male’ or ‘female’
* politics - not ascribing to any political party’s institutional loyalty - I’m a free thinker, so, I remain independent.
* religion - While I am deeply spiritual, I am not attached to any religion, and, I have let go of many of the ‘beliefs’ that are not true for me.
* attire and appearance - I deconstructed the traditions and “shoulds” of the culture that tells women what to wear ‘at my age,’ how to wear my hair ‘at my age.’
* lifestyle - I have no attachment to ‘prescribed’ norms and mores. I keep values at my core, but, they are my own and not those forced on me through a lifetime of indoctrination.
* definition of ‘family’- ‘Family’ includes friends who are ‘family of choice.’ And, my dachshund ‘kid’ is as family to me as my human family.
* questioning is healthy - To examine, research, meditate on, study all aspects of one’s life is a mentally/emotionally/physically/spiritually healthy adventure. We were created with a magnificent ability to feel, to think, and to intuit, ignoring that ability by simply accepting what institutions tell us at face value belittles us.
What, in your life, do you want or need to deconstruct? I encourage you to dive in, to research, to read, to meditate on, to examine all aspects of your life, to define what is fact and what is fiction, to determine your truth, and to deconstruct aspects that do not align with what you have learned, what you feel is not true, and what evidence you have discovered. You may discover that some aspects that you were indoctrinated to over your lifetime are, indeed, true for you. Keep those elements and toss out what you no longer want to hold on to. It’s about informed, investigated choice. When you do this work and have solidified your truth and have deconstructed what is not for you, you will live with integrity and authenticity. In essence, you have dismantled the structures that don't work for you and have built what does work for you.
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