The Cone Model©

All that we share

Despite our superficial differences, we all experience the same basic fears, needs, fragilities, pains, desires, hopes, and joys, also known as the human condition.

TheCone Model© is a recurring pattern that explains how and why, no matter who we are, we start with brilliant solutions to our problems and end up with destructive life systems that rob us of our freedoms and fail to address our problems.

The things “every child knows”

Almost everything in our lives starts with the way we see the world. Our view of reality is based on the sum of our beliefs, upheld values, experiences, and personal traits. These core certainties are the unquestionable base assumptions we feel every child should know. These are the things we don’t question or examine. Our core certainties make up our view of “reality,” no matter how “real” or false it may be.

We all have problems and needs

Our Core Certainties inform how we define problems, and there’s never a shortage of those. It can be anything from our fear of dying to being bored out of our minds on a Saturday night.

Problems, big or small, lead to needs, the basic one being “get rid of the problem.” However, our problems and needs aren’t always what they seem. Not only do we view them through a whole stack of skewing core certainties, but we are influenced by a myriad of profiteers who will warp our reality, manipulate us, manufacture, or augment our problems and needs, and then offer us their quick fixes.

We are a creative bunch

True or false, when we have problems and needs, we require solutions, which we devise, collaborate on, try out, fight over, try something else, and refine. In the early days, everyone knows our solutions aren’t perfect and that many of them address symptoms instead of problems. Nevertheless, given time, we narrow them down, come to rely on them, speak their praise, and distribute them outside of our immediate circle.

System: the unbearable lightness of being

Once the solution becomes widespread and rooted in our daily lives, we develop structures to support its distribution, access, and delivery. As all systems go, the solution narrows into what we decide is “the right one.” Having a solid answer means fewer new ideas and greater caution with new approaches. At this stage, we no longer ask too many troublesome questions about our solution, justify its use, or seek alternatives.

Dogma: the one true solution

Give the system some more time and leave it in the hands of zealots and self-serving interests, and it becomes “The One Solution,” further narrowing our options. This is where the system becomes more important than the problems and needs it is supposed to address.

The Cone is where dogma rules. It is where we lose our solution-related freedom of thought, speech, and action, whether or not we are aware of it. The upholders of “The One Solution” become our oppressors, and we, their willing or unwilling Subjects.

Cones are not immortal… but they reincarnate

The good news is that while Cones make us believe they are eternal and indestructible, eventually every oppressive Cone topples. The bad news is that we tend to build new Cones on the ashes of the old ones. So long as we are unaware of the Coning process, we keep falling into the same traps that yield the same oppressive systems under new management.

Surely not me!

You might be tempted to believe that only naïve fools buy into an oppressive system and that you are immune to such folly, but you will be wrong. It happens to all of us because we all experience the same basic vulnerabilities. We are all indoctrinated by our cultures, communities, educational systems, governments, and faith organizations, to name a few. We grow up inside many Cones that confine our thinking and control our behaviour, and we are all vulnerable to unhealthy coping mechanisms and shrewd propaganda.

The good news

The Cone Model© is easy to grasp because we all experience Cones in almost every area of our lives. The reason we find them everywhere is because we fail to recognize the recurring pattern and therefore never learn from our mistakes. On the bright side, once you understand how Cones work, you can no longer unsee them.

Understanding the inner workings of the Cone beast can help you seek alternative ways to go about the solutions you come up with and the systems you choose to embrace. Many have already stepped out of their Cones and chose better pathways. There’s no reason you couldn’t do the same.