Windows
on the World
“Your
assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them every once in a
while, or the light won't come in.”
Isaac
Asimov
Albert Einstein believed,
“The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” If
one never questions one's own assumptions, then change is not
possible. Over a lifetime, because of experience and education, most
of us move from a childish, usually self-serving understanding of the
world and how it works, to a more informed, more sophisticated, and
more universal one. We realize that other people do not necessarily
share our same assumptions, and that they believe their own to be
equally valid—actually, they believe their own to be correct and
ours to be wrong. To the extent that we are able to hear a variety of
opinions, and at least attempt to comprehend what makes them valid to
others, we can live at peace with our differences. But when every
voice becomes hardened into dogma—my way or no way—then there is
no chance for peace to prevail.
George Bernard Shaw said,
“Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
At this time in our human history, we feel under pressure no matter
which socio-economic, racial, tribal, or religious group we belong
to. Rich people feel oppressed by the needs of the poor, poor people
feel unheard, unappreciated and beleaguered, people of color are
inflamed by the lack of progress toward equality and fair treatment,
certain religious communities fear for their very lives, and tribal
people everywhere seem to grow more entrenched and paranoid.
It is time to scrub off
the windows of our assumptions, and let some light in. We must be
able to move in the direction of openness and human compassion, or
the fractures will deepen, the divide become greater. Perhaps the
catastrophic natural disasters happening at this moment, the fires,
storms, and earthquakes, are showing us how very much we need each
other, and how little our missiles, rockets and bombs really mean.
These represent a childish understanding of the world. It's time we
grow up.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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