Dear People Whom God Loves,
I have been reflecting on what I see within our church among religious, in our local politics, in our national and world politics and, indeed, within families and throughout almost all of our human interactions.
What I see is our very human tendency to think that what I see is the whole truth. In other words, what I see from my perspective discounts whatever is seen from another perspective and so is false. I have the truth. Indeed, I have the whole truth.
The ancient Greek philosopher, Aristotle, used the example of one man standing at the top of a hill and another man standing at the bottom of the same hill. They have a shouting argument . . . the man at the top shouting that it is downhill . . . the man at the bottom shouts back that it is uphill. Neither listens to the other. They just fight, and so neither one learns anything.
This belief starts when we are little. Studies have shown that when a little one is shown a bottle that is red on one side and green on the other side, that when he is shown the red side he thinks that the whole bottle is red. When the bottle is turned around and he sees the green side, he says that the whole bottle is green.
As the child grows older and is shown the same turning of the bottle, he says that the bottle is red on one side and green on the other. Also, he then denies that he was ever so stupid as to think as he did when he was younger.
More next time.
Smile, God Loves You,
Father Clay
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