There is within us, an innate desire to view choices and people as black and white. I'm good, they're bad. I'm right, they're wrong. Yin yang is a great example of this. It's not only not right down the middle, but there's a bit of dark in the light and a bit of light in the dark. When I was 15 I began seeing this over and over. Taken out of context the scriptures that fortify this view, "So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth." (Revelation 3:16) Are we supposed to be on the extremes of the issue? For or against? Dead or alive? Good or evil?
I learn about life through analogies, so indulge me as I demonstrate. I love shopping on Amazon, I can't afford return shipping, and haven't the time to go research again. Thankfully there are reviews. I imagine the first few are friends that have purchased the product. After the first four you start getting some meatier reviews, questions, comments. We all know those people that are sour no matter what. All is gloom and doom and it's someone else's fault. They're usually the ones out there. I ignore ones.What about those that you know that love to stroke their own ego and assure themselves that they've made the right choice? We all know a few of those too. So where do I go to find an objective, informed, balanced opinion? Right to the middle reviews, 2-4 are where the truth lies. But being a fairly positive person, I lean to the fours.
So back to our visual... let's apply what we just addressed. So maybe it's not black over there where all the wrong people are, and white over here where I am. Extremism can be destructive and dishonest, in fact, I propose that it often is. It separates us from others creating emnity through pride. It causes us to view others through a lens of distrust. They're hiding something, they're evil-doers, they're false. So I vamped my view Black to the left, black to the right, white in the middle. It's a lonely place with few agreeing with you and everyone against you. Am I the only normal person here?
The thing is, all the above is based on absolutes. What is right for one is right for all. And in part, that is based on truth. On earth, gravity is constant, Engineering is based on unchanging forces that allow us to construct high buildings, strong bridges, fast roller coasters... But it gets stickier the more variables you add, high wind in Texas, earthquakes in Japan, tide waters in Florida. Then the engineering needs to change for the place, the situation, the geography. So in fact, though there are some things that have never changed, there are some truths that apply to the coast that don't apply to the Rockies. So though there is a constant of gravity; some definitive truths. There are wind sheer, elevation, wind, and soil composition that are variable.
Understanding these truths takes experience; insight gained from perspective. Let me paint another picture. Flying with my friend over the Texas panhandle. We go screaming down the runway where everything becomes a blur. It passes to quickly to be able to see and process. Then suddenly we're flying at the same rate thousands of feet in the air. The irrigation crop planting is in these amazing circular patterns. Now granted, the panhandle is flat and the soild composition fairly consistent, but it's pretty hard, Certainly a bent instrument a tough clump of cliche could throw off and perpetuate mistakes. But experienced farmers have got this. They know how to stick to these patterns to make the best use of their land. Perspective from above helped me to understand what couldn't be unless I had a lifetime farming, what usually is only understood in close proximity to the challenge. So being objective isn't necessarily being disconnected and impassionate, it can come from working on it everyday. These truths that come from experience help us to develop priority. But they may only be understood from above.
What can we do to gain perspective and insight? Develop new interests, try new things, have experiences. Whether you agree with the belief in God or not, we grow by living; fully engaging in life. My religion has taught me that we came to earth to learn to be more like God, grow in faith, and gain experience. I believe that independent of the teachings, it is a part of who I am and I love experiencing new things. Recently I graduated top of my class (I'll try not to hurt myself patting my own back) but it's because I had gained enough experience in life to value education, even education that was not in my field, because truth (granted there is some gleaning and filtering) can apply to completely different topics.
All of these examples lend itself to understanding that we're not omniscient, and we can't possibly experience everything on our own, but we can unite our knowledge, effort, experience, perspective, and priority to a common goal and come away with something much greater than the sum of its parts.
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