{"id":7118,"date":"2017-02-02T06:43:41","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T11:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=7118"},"modified":"2017-02-02T06:43:41","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T11:43:41","slug":"which-is-worse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intramuralist.com\/?p=7118","title":{"rendered":"which is worse?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"g5txzmszlyw-takahiro-sakamoto\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As is no secret, the Intramuralist is saddened and concerned regarding the current societal climate. So much disrespect is being justified. So much unwillingness to listen is being encouraged. So much shouting, tension, blindness, meanness, etc. So much\u2026 dare I say, too much.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been asked at least three times in recent weeks, \u201cAR, aren\u2019t you concerned?\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course I am. I would only add that I\u2019ve been concerned long before last November.<\/p>\n

This week, no less, something struck me. It was one of those moments from a book or a text where I felt immediate cause to pause, as the written words extended way beyond the pages encasing their current context. It was similar to how I frequently felt, fumbling through the truths buried in Harper Lee\u2019s To Kill a Mockingbird, A Thousand Splendid Suns<\/em> by Khaled Hosseini, and in When Character Was King<\/em> by Peggy Noonan. There is truth in words \u2014 regardless of where they are found\u2026 in a book, a friend’s text, even on a postcard or placard\u2026<\/p>\n

The following words struck me this week, as I pondered the relevance to the frictional, non-fictional climate we now witness. Maybe this is relevant; maybe it\u2019s not. But something within made me think\u2026 this whole idea that\u2026<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 The idea that the whole human race is, in a sense, one thing \u2014 one huge organism, like a tree \u2014 must not be confused with the idea that individual differences do not matter or that real people, Tom and Nobby and Kate, are somehow less important than collective things like classes, races, and so forth. \u2028\u2028Indeed the two ideas are opposites. Things which are parts of a single organism may be very different from one another; things which are not, may be very alike. Six pennies are quite separate and very alike; my nose and lungs are very different, but they are only alive at all because they are parts of my body and share its common life\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

[Note: sharing common life\u2026]<\/p>\n

When you find yourself wanting to turn your children, or pupils, or even your neighbours, into people exactly like yourself, remember that God probably never meant them to be that. You and they are different organs, intended to do different things. \u2028\u2028On the other hand, when you are tempted not to bother about someone else\u2019s troubles because they are \u2018no business of yours\u2019, remember that though he is different from you, he is part of the same organism as you. If you forget that he belongs to the same organism as yourself, you will become an Individualist. If you forget that he is a different organ from you, if you want to suppress differences and make all people alike, you will become a Totalitarian\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

I feel a strong desire to tell you \u2014 and I expect you feel a strong desire to tell me \u2014 which of these two errors is the worse. That is the devil getting at us. He always sends errors into the world in pairs \u2014 pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us to spend a lot of time thinking which is the worse. You see why, of course?<\/em><\/p>\n

He relies on your extra dislike of the one error to draw you gradually into the opposite one. But do not let us be fooled. We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors. We have no other concern than that with either of them.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Friends, do we see this?<\/p>\n

Can<\/em> we see this?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe devil is getting at us.\u201d He is manipulating us into identifying solely one as \u201cworse.\u201d<\/p>\n

We must remember we are part of the same \u201corganism.\u201d The goal is thus not to make all people think the same; the goal is also not to be so blinded that we think of the other as so much \u201cworse\u201d \u2014 evil, in fact. We need to find a way to talk and listen and learn from those who are different \u2014 not shut them down nor ignore their perspective.<\/p>\n

For some reason, the wisdom of C.S. Lewis stood out to me this week. It also seemed profoundly relevant.<\/p>\n

Respectfully\u2026
\nAR<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As is no secret, the Intramuralist is saddened and concerned regarding the current societal climate. So much disrespect is being justified. So much unwillingness to listen is being encouraged. So much shouting, tension, blindness, meanness, etc. So much\u2026 dare I say, too much. I\u2019ve been asked at least three times in recent weeks, \u201cAR, aren\u2019t … <\/p>\n

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