This week we will begin my "AND" series. It will be an introduction to integral theory and it's pivotal role in our understanding.
Imagine the morning sun is shining down on your face. Now imagine someone sitting next to you and saying "It's midnight." Depending upon the categories that you possess about the earth and sun, you may either agree with this person
or conclude they are fool.
Yes it's daytime. It's also nighttime. In order to see both statements as true, we must possess a perspective that has transcended smaller, limited perspectives.
The small perspective is dominated by DUALITIES (thanks Plato). EITHER this, OR that.
- Hot or Cold
- Evolution or Creation
- Republican
or Democrat
- Devine Election or Free Will
- This religion or that one
- Heaven or Hell
Myopia is near sightedness. Myopic thinking is comfortable only with close-in, clearly drawn definitions. Anything further is too blurry and is therefore rejected. Usually out of fear. We develop myopia when we become certain of our perspective.
Nearly every disagreement is about
perspective. Whether it is day or night. Nearly every resolution comes by transcending a small (usually selfish) view and gaining a wider perspective.
If we simply switch sides of the argument, we haven't grown. We have merely driven out of one ditch and into the other. Duality in our thinking causes us to do this.
To possess
a wider perspective is ultimately to gain new categories. It is to transcend our old truth without completely abandoning it. It is to employ the core aspect, while contextualizing the rest--nothing is discarded --and that takes practice and skill (we call this maturity).
That's another way of saying what C.S. Lewis says is "exchanging the truth as it is for us, for the truth as it is." Jesus
said we would have to get new containers (wineskins) in order to possess new wine (truth) or else we would not be able to possess either (Mark 2:22).
The path to the wider perspective is ultimately the way we understand and apply the truth. Certainty always stunts our growth in pride, while humility promotes progress. The beauty is that growing doesn't mean you must let go of your conviction that the sun is shining on
your face, it means that you become inclusive of those who experience night. Peace is the result. It's always been the plan.
If you are tired of wasting energy on never ending arguments and the dissension they produce, then I hope you will follow this series. Spiritual growth will always change "how" you think, while the rigidity of religion always tries to change "what" you think.
Open hand
or a closed fist? It's up to you.
