We appreciate seeing the world in b&w because it brings us a false comfort of "knowing." Not knowing is anathema to our understanding of tranquility. I posit that fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of the human psyche.
Rather than be afraid of what we don't know or don't understand or appreciate, we create personal or communal stories to fill in the places where our mind is in doubt.
Not knowing is hard but if accepted, can be very freeing. We don't need to create other worldly or even plain false narratives or myths to assuage our fear of the unknown.
Living with ambiguity and the inability to change the past or accurately predict the future can be freeing and is a product of maturity. We're not as think as we smart we are...hehe.
Your 'Solutions' become more profound and moving with every week. The true value of education is in overcoming the fear that motivates and enables seeing the world in black and white. As you note, we're taught as children "Stranger Danger", and to fear death as the unknowable afterworld where we'll have to deal with the adverse consequences of everything we've ever done or thought that was wrong. Learning that not everyone we don't know is a danger and that a God who could and would create a universe such as we live in would have no reason to load the game against that creation takes a tremendous load off one's mind and enables a freedom of viewpoint and behavior that makes doctrinaire extremist positions of any sort almost impossible to envision let alone accept.
Once we are (more or less) free of fear, we're more able to see the nuances in any situation and to accept the differences that are an intended feature of our society writ large rather than a bug to be eliminated. What is hard to understand is those people who, contra their apparent life situations, espouse a public position for political or social aggrandizement that serves only a short-term, rather mundane goal. We're meant to be better than that, and, to the extent that we take time and make the effort to become educated and to support each other through the necessary growing pains, we will be.
In the meantime, make a plan to vote, encourage others to do so, and when making your decision on who to vote for, consider which candidates and other actions support life as you'd like it to be lived and which oppose it.
Walt Whitman wrote that only the worst among us have inflamed passions. One and one half centuries later, seems like a majority of people do. Can't help wonder if antibiotics have changed our ways of thinking. Many people who are considered mentally ill have very low levels of oxytocin. Lactobacillus reutieri is necessary for the production of oxytocin, but only four percent of Americans have it in our bodies. If everyone would go out and drink some kefir or get an l. reutieri supplement, it would greatly help their gut brain. Also they should get a cat to cuddle with.
It's a rare position to be in the middle of the road these days, but it is not correct to say that moderates and liberals have the same black and white thinking as progressives or fascists. I do not use the word conservative because American conservatism means conserving a revolution of Liberalism versus authoritarian rule. As an educated rural white man, it has been an absolute stunner to see the guys I thought were some of the best folks play sniveling, lying traitors to the constitution in support of the most shameless person to ever disgrace public office. Make no mistake about it. If tRump gains office again, there will be structural changes to our laws that create an authoritarian state that will never be reversed at the ballot box.😢
I have an abiding faith in the fundamental decency of the American people. Where i live, in the Midwest, the same person who has a bumper sticker supporting a politician you loath is the same person who will help an elder change a tire in the pouring rain or feed a stray dog. They would do this because it is the right thing to do. When I was growing up it was common to hear things like "he can believe whatever he wants, this ain't Russia." That spirit is still here. The anger and demonizing of people with different views is recent. It is the product of a news media that has wholly abandoned its sacred duty to report impartiality and inform the public in order to be cheerleaders for one faction or the other. To gain views and clicks the worst of two extremes are given vast amounts of air time. Anger sells much more than decency. Don't write if American and her people.
People may have decent inclinations, but it appears that there's one that has no decency that has attracted millions into a cult of himself, and the largest percentage of known group support is evangelical Christians...@ >70% Hypocrisy at it's most glaring.
A timely reminder to use your best judgment when deciding how best to live your life and who to cast your vote for this November. Thoughtful, researched and critical thinking skills is essential in this election cycle.
There's a lot of truth in what you say, but I'm afraid that if anybody can draw the conclusion that only one party can be voted for in good faith, they are engaging in a form of black-and-white thinking. There are people of good faith in both parties who have many good faith reasons for voting for either party notwithstanding the character flaws of the politicians in each.. The left, right divide is mostly media manufactured - ginned up - illusion. Most people are somewhere in the reasonable middle whether somewhat left of center or somewhat right of center. The truth is a lot more complicated than declaring anybody a fascist and calling it a day.
You packed a lot into one letter. I have read it three times. And each time I took away something more and new. It could pass as a class - or an entree in critical thinking with compassion as a side dish.
I am worried, like most of us. I worry a lot about the election. But that will be what it will be and I am hopeful. However, if we win...when we win...it will be just a beginning.
Huge portions of the population have said they don't trust their own government. They don't trust the media. They don't trust established facts. It is as if the drinking water has been poisoned - the Kool Aid administered.
President Harris and VP Walz will attempt to unify us. Millions will be told they should hate them as "commies" and "liberal elites". But the "elites" are the billionaire class that has funded MAGA.
It is not going to be pretty or easy. But we have to find a way to build trust again...
Biden is President in name only, he does not make the decisions and does not, will not know what to do. Trump makes all his own decisions and does not know, will not know what to do. Harris is clueless and can't answer questions without deflecting to another subject. I feel sorry for those who live in the US because the winner of the coming election is not going to solve the myriad of problems facing the nation. Add to that a useless congress and you have a recipe for a continuing mess. The only solution that I can see is to follow your advice, look at both sides and live your life as you see fit. It's possible to live and not be swayed by politics. There has never been a President who has affected my life to any great extent. The only time I was affected was if prices went up and Presidents don't control the price of anything. Fortunately, I was too young for Korea and too old for Vietnam, otherwise, war would have greatly affected my life. I feel sorry for those who will be drafted into the next inevitable war.
George, there is every reason for us to wallow in negativity. Sometimes I think this is it. The end of us.
But as I read our history I realize we are just a young nation trying to grow up.
What we are experiencing now is NOTHING compared to the atrocities of the Civil War or the miseries of the Gilded Age or WWI or WWII or Korea or Vietnam or the insane wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The world is a mess. It has always been a mess. But I will vote with enthusiasm and confidence for Kamala Harris - who may be the most qualified, experienced, educated and compassionate person to have ever sought the office. And..Tim Walz as a backup and partner only sweetens the choice.
Harris is far from "clueless". She is running an incredible campaign. Her support is growing. Republicans are signing on. Trump is in a spiral dive to mental health oblivion...and probably prison.
Cheer up. Life sucks but we should always look on the bright side of life.
I don't believe that Harris "may be the most qualified, experienced and educated person to have ever sought the office." A quick perusal of the past 200 yrs. with discredit that. Better educated and compassionate than Kennedy and Carter, more educated than Kennedy, Carter, Nixon, Clinton? That's just since the 60s.
She is not "running an incredible campaign," it's being run for her. I've listened to some of her interviews and she doesn't say anything. It's just blah, blah, blah.
Trump is beyond the pale. These are the two worst candidates in my lifetime.
We appreciate seeing the world in b&w because it brings us a false comfort of "knowing." Not knowing is anathema to our understanding of tranquility. I posit that fear of the unknown is the greatest fear of the human psyche.
Rather than be afraid of what we don't know or don't understand or appreciate, we create personal or communal stories to fill in the places where our mind is in doubt.
Not knowing is hard but if accepted, can be very freeing. We don't need to create other worldly or even plain false narratives or myths to assuage our fear of the unknown.
Living with ambiguity and the inability to change the past or accurately predict the future can be freeing and is a product of maturity. We're not as think as we smart we are...hehe.
Your 'Solutions' become more profound and moving with every week. The true value of education is in overcoming the fear that motivates and enables seeing the world in black and white. As you note, we're taught as children "Stranger Danger", and to fear death as the unknowable afterworld where we'll have to deal with the adverse consequences of everything we've ever done or thought that was wrong. Learning that not everyone we don't know is a danger and that a God who could and would create a universe such as we live in would have no reason to load the game against that creation takes a tremendous load off one's mind and enables a freedom of viewpoint and behavior that makes doctrinaire extremist positions of any sort almost impossible to envision let alone accept.
Once we are (more or less) free of fear, we're more able to see the nuances in any situation and to accept the differences that are an intended feature of our society writ large rather than a bug to be eliminated. What is hard to understand is those people who, contra their apparent life situations, espouse a public position for political or social aggrandizement that serves only a short-term, rather mundane goal. We're meant to be better than that, and, to the extent that we take time and make the effort to become educated and to support each other through the necessary growing pains, we will be.
In the meantime, make a plan to vote, encourage others to do so, and when making your decision on who to vote for, consider which candidates and other actions support life as you'd like it to be lived and which oppose it.
Walt Whitman wrote that only the worst among us have inflamed passions. One and one half centuries later, seems like a majority of people do. Can't help wonder if antibiotics have changed our ways of thinking. Many people who are considered mentally ill have very low levels of oxytocin. Lactobacillus reutieri is necessary for the production of oxytocin, but only four percent of Americans have it in our bodies. If everyone would go out and drink some kefir or get an l. reutieri supplement, it would greatly help their gut brain. Also they should get a cat to cuddle with.
It's a rare position to be in the middle of the road these days, but it is not correct to say that moderates and liberals have the same black and white thinking as progressives or fascists. I do not use the word conservative because American conservatism means conserving a revolution of Liberalism versus authoritarian rule. As an educated rural white man, it has been an absolute stunner to see the guys I thought were some of the best folks play sniveling, lying traitors to the constitution in support of the most shameless person to ever disgrace public office. Make no mistake about it. If tRump gains office again, there will be structural changes to our laws that create an authoritarian state that will never be reversed at the ballot box.😢
I have an abiding faith in the fundamental decency of the American people. Where i live, in the Midwest, the same person who has a bumper sticker supporting a politician you loath is the same person who will help an elder change a tire in the pouring rain or feed a stray dog. They would do this because it is the right thing to do. When I was growing up it was common to hear things like "he can believe whatever he wants, this ain't Russia." That spirit is still here. The anger and demonizing of people with different views is recent. It is the product of a news media that has wholly abandoned its sacred duty to report impartiality and inform the public in order to be cheerleaders for one faction or the other. To gain views and clicks the worst of two extremes are given vast amounts of air time. Anger sells much more than decency. Don't write if American and her people.
I think you meant to close by saying "Don't write off America..." Autocorrect is sometimes a bugger.
Yup
People may have decent inclinations, but it appears that there's one that has no decency that has attracted millions into a cult of himself, and the largest percentage of known group support is evangelical Christians...@ >70% Hypocrisy at it's most glaring.
Why are they, in particular, so easily misled?
The answer is always somewhere in the middle. Life exists on a continuum.
Care to share a little more about the characteristics of the middle?
Everybody is a little right and a little wrong. It’s all a matter of degree.
No...I think there are objective realities.
No doubt about that, the continuum is based on how individuals react to those realities.
A timely reminder to use your best judgment when deciding how best to live your life and who to cast your vote for this November. Thoughtful, researched and critical thinking skills is essential in this election cycle.
There's a lot of truth in what you say, but I'm afraid that if anybody can draw the conclusion that only one party can be voted for in good faith, they are engaging in a form of black-and-white thinking. There are people of good faith in both parties who have many good faith reasons for voting for either party notwithstanding the character flaws of the politicians in each.. The left, right divide is mostly media manufactured - ginned up - illusion. Most people are somewhere in the reasonable middle whether somewhat left of center or somewhat right of center. The truth is a lot more complicated than declaring anybody a fascist and calling it a day.
Dr Hall,
You packed a lot into one letter. I have read it three times. And each time I took away something more and new. It could pass as a class - or an entree in critical thinking with compassion as a side dish.
I am worried, like most of us. I worry a lot about the election. But that will be what it will be and I am hopeful. However, if we win...when we win...it will be just a beginning.
Huge portions of the population have said they don't trust their own government. They don't trust the media. They don't trust established facts. It is as if the drinking water has been poisoned - the Kool Aid administered.
President Harris and VP Walz will attempt to unify us. Millions will be told they should hate them as "commies" and "liberal elites". But the "elites" are the billionaire class that has funded MAGA.
It is not going to be pretty or easy. But we have to find a way to build trust again...
Thank you for sharing what I believe to be a deeply introspective abd beautifully written essay.
Thank you teaching us to 'see' the different shades of grey.
Thank you, Deborah
Biden is President in name only, he does not make the decisions and does not, will not know what to do. Trump makes all his own decisions and does not know, will not know what to do. Harris is clueless and can't answer questions without deflecting to another subject. I feel sorry for those who live in the US because the winner of the coming election is not going to solve the myriad of problems facing the nation. Add to that a useless congress and you have a recipe for a continuing mess. The only solution that I can see is to follow your advice, look at both sides and live your life as you see fit. It's possible to live and not be swayed by politics. There has never been a President who has affected my life to any great extent. The only time I was affected was if prices went up and Presidents don't control the price of anything. Fortunately, I was too young for Korea and too old for Vietnam, otherwise, war would have greatly affected my life. I feel sorry for those who will be drafted into the next inevitable war.
George, there is every reason for us to wallow in negativity. Sometimes I think this is it. The end of us.
But as I read our history I realize we are just a young nation trying to grow up.
What we are experiencing now is NOTHING compared to the atrocities of the Civil War or the miseries of the Gilded Age or WWI or WWII or Korea or Vietnam or the insane wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The world is a mess. It has always been a mess. But I will vote with enthusiasm and confidence for Kamala Harris - who may be the most qualified, experienced, educated and compassionate person to have ever sought the office. And..Tim Walz as a backup and partner only sweetens the choice.
Harris is far from "clueless". She is running an incredible campaign. Her support is growing. Republicans are signing on. Trump is in a spiral dive to mental health oblivion...and probably prison.
Cheer up. Life sucks but we should always look on the bright side of life.
https://youtu.be/jHPOzQzk9Qo?si=TCzDytC9hu7PTtba
I don't believe that Harris "may be the most qualified, experienced and educated person to have ever sought the office." A quick perusal of the past 200 yrs. with discredit that. Better educated and compassionate than Kennedy and Carter, more educated than Kennedy, Carter, Nixon, Clinton? That's just since the 60s.
She is not "running an incredible campaign," it's being run for her. I've listened to some of her interviews and she doesn't say anything. It's just blah, blah, blah.
Trump is beyond the pale. These are the two worst candidates in my lifetime.