Our everyday lives are structured by rules that we usually take for granted. We think of these rules as unchanging, self-evident and necessary, but in truth we know that they flow from social, cultural, and historical sources. When we honestly admit their origins, the appearance of necessity is put into question and the underlying contingency is brought to light.
As we illuminate the nature of such constraints, we create a space in which new ideas may evolve liberated from the architecture of arbitrary rules. This emancipation, however, does not proceed haphazardly. The merit of political, ethical, and religious perspectives will be exchanged in the market place of ideas with reason and evidence as our currency. No views shall be silenced, but neither shall all opinions be considered equal.
If this endeavor was about mere ideas, then our task would be far less urgent, a trivial intellectual exercise. Yet, ideas are not confined to the ivory tower. Indeed, they govern the world in which we live. The future of our lives and our world are inextricably linked to how we think about them. If we realize the radical possibilities concealed beneath the surface of our everyday lives, we will discover not only new ways to think, but new ways to live.
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