Us and Them - a personal reflection - treat them with care.

It is not every day that you have an opportunity to see  how your mind works. I was given that gift a few weeks ago. I got a new perspective on “them.” You know: THEM. Those folk on the other side of the political spectrum, or in that different socio economic group, foreigners, or whatever “other” category currently preoccupies you. I often say to myself, “What is wrong with them?" I once even thought I understood the real problem.

https://carlscheider.blogspot.com/2021/04/finally-i-understand-what-is-wrong-with.html 

We were attending Mass at St. Joseph’s in Hayward Wisconsin on a Saturday evening. The homily was given by the deacon - an elderly gentleman. He spoke about caring for our neighbors, and focused on the needs of the elderly in our community. I looked around the congregation and we were mostly older folk. 

I was thinking about these fellow Christians all around me, and I had a sense of sorrow about them. I was sorry that they have such a narrow view of our Christian religion. Most Catholics and Christians have this personal sense of their relationship with the deity. They are living good lives, focused on earning the reward in the next life. I am a bit more progressive. I have been in parts of the world where the “social gospel” or “liberation gospel” prevails. I personally believe that the message of the carpenter from Nazareth was not about starting a new religion, but about changing the world. He was focused on the poor, the orphan, the outcast. I believe that this is the key message of Christianity and that if we could get it into the hearts and minds of a few more people, we can change the world. 

https://carlscheider.blogspot.com/2019/04/jesus-before-christianity-by-albert.html 

The planet has about 1.2 billion Catholics, and about 1.4 billion Christians. If we could persuade a small minority of them to adopt this progressive view of their religion - what a force for change that would be. But I realize that this is virtually impossible. I would never set about doing that. I am pretty sure I could not change the belief of a single one of them by talking with them. So I am feeling some form of sorrow about that. As I thought about that, I realized that although I disagree with these folk in a major way about their beliefs, I don’t think there is anything wrong with them. I treat them with love and care because I WAS one of them. I know exactly how that type of Christianity feels, how comfortable and secure it is. I was 100% committed to that. I became a priest based on that belief and feeling. I actually love these people and wish them well, even though we would seriously disagree about some fundamental values. And I know I could never change them by talking with them.

Then it occurred to me that there is another crowd of humans on the “right.” For them, I actually think there is something wrong with their brains. I think they are crazy. They seem bent on destroying our current form of government, and wreaking chaos on the world economy, terrorizing my friends and neighbors. It dawned on me that they likely see my view of our world as just as crazy as I see theirs. Their history, their feelings, their values are tied up in their view just as mine are. 

They are not crazy. They are just normal folk, with a different life experience than mine. I know a few of them fairly well, and they treat me with care and compassion. We just disagree about, well, everything.  When we were visiting Africa, I discovered people in East Africa feel that they are NOT in charge of their lives. Things happen TO them. They do not take steps to change life events - they just experience them.  I could not understand how it was possible that they did not think that they were in charge of life. In the U.S. Virtually everyone thinks we can literally change the world. Get rid of a government. Move the minds and hearts of a few million people. Just let me at it. The East African world view is that life is something that happens to us. They are not choosing it - it is just happening to them. That is still hard for me to believe, but I know it is true. 

I wrote a bit about that a long time ago - you can find that and the stories here:

https://carlscheider.blogspot.com/2011/01/culture-and-developing-nations.html 

So . . .  treat them with care and respect. Talk with them, help them. But “do not talk politics.” Do not “argue” political or social values with them. Those are not topics for emotional discourse. 

More recently, our social scientists and neurologists  have discovered that there are ways to bridge this gap, and there are ways to move society forward - without logical arguments. It has to do with mutual respect, building a bridge, acting together on something outside this realm, and “organzing.” More on that later. I will be back with some insights.

Utopia for Realists, by Rutger Bregman Book Report

I read this book some time ago, and wrote up this "book report." The author has sinced published a fefw more, which I have read as well - and they are continue in this vein, which I like quite a bit. Here's a short hand version for those in a rush - and a longer one down just a bit. Thanks. 

The SHORT version.

I had the good fortune to be a preacher for a Catholic Community. This was really a gift. It forced me to regularly stop and consider my beliefs, my goals, my mission. I think it gave me a much fuller perspective on life and love. 

Utopia for Realists, How We Can Build the Ideal World, by Rutger Bregman

This is a DAMNED FINE BOOK, and everyone should read it - right now! 

As my wife has it, you say that about a book about once a month. But this time it is true!

Then immediately pick up his next one: Humankind, A Hopeful History.

The author is a Dutch historian - he is not a religious leader or philosopher. He has studied the history of humankind - ancient and modern - and come up with some remarkable conclusions. If you are familiar with the Israeli historian, Yuval Noah Harari, this book is similar to Homo Sapiens, but with a much more positive read. If you want to see both of these authors in dialogue, they were recently part of a joint presentation with the editor in chief of The Economist, which you can find here: https://youtu.be/odel2PA5R6A   2021.02.04  

They are talking about the pandemic - and how much we can learn from that. We really are all in this together. They also outline the two major risks to humankind going forward. It is well worth your time.

So, spend $10 on the book. Take a pleasant hour to watch the video. I predict it will change how you view life and humankind - trust me on this. Besides the hopeful message, he outlines some positive steps we can all take to move us down the road.

For more on Bregman in video format, do a search on YouTube. 

https://youtu.be/NCfpVUhpeVg  Basic Income is investment capital for the people. 

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A more lengthy approach: 

When I was in high school in 1955 I read Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. It was insightful and fun, but it was fiction. Huxley made up a world that we would all love to live in. That is what a utopia is. This book is not fiction - it is a visionary projection of the future, based on scientific research into what works. It has hard numbers and data about wealth and cost. It cites the real experiments that are being conducted in each of these realms. The author has also researched the considered opinions of many progressive economists and historians. 

The facts are clear - we can do this, we can afford it, we should start building it. It sounds like pie in the sky, but the human race is finally at the point where we could do this - if we can figure out how to motivate out neighbors - not convince them - just move them a bit.

It is also clear that this idea is not in tune with the prevailing sentiment of much of the current world. But it seems to be in tune with the desires and aspirations of that world. We just need to believe that is actually possible - and it is! We also need to clearly express it in a way that will engage everyone. 

It is clear that this is not a trivial undertaking. It took Europe about 50 years (1945-1993) to open their borders and create the European Union. And the result is still problematic, but they did it, and they are still working at it - 28 years later. 

This is a brief list of the major ideas, just to entice you a bit further.

Solving Poverty - Give Free Money to Everyone

A Fifteen Hour Work Week - at least a a start

Why It Doesn’t Pay to be a Banker - finance and its “contribution”

Race Against the Machine - computers and reduction of labor to nothing - now what?

Open Borders is the ultimate solution - will take some work, and will benefit the developed countries as much as the developing! “Effectively, open borders would make the whole world twice as rich.” Page 214

Economic Inequality is killing us all - rich and poor.

Scheider’s notation: This is the Christian Message

If you have followed along to this point, it is my considered opinion that this is the modern Christian message of the carpenter from Nazareth. This is the kingdom of God - we need to be about it. The second book, Humankind, cites many of the NT quotes in support of all of this. Some of you will think this is heresy. For that I would refer you once more to this fine biblical work by a Dominican monk:  Jesus Before Christianity, by Albert Nolan. He explores the synoptic gospels from the perspective of a Jewish contemporary of the preacher.
https://carlscheider.blogspot.com/2019/04/jesus-before-christianity-by-albert.html 

He was Jesus of Nazareth. By the way, that is his real name. “Jesus the Christ” is an honorary title of the Jewish tradition. It was also my father’s favorite phrase for some things. This Jesus did not start a new religion. He was Jewish. I am sure that he could not imagine being of any other belief system, just as you would find it difficult to see yourself as a Muslim or Hindu. He taught a life philosophy based on the best of the Jewish tradition. If you have read the Bible, you must realize that not everything in there is a commendable action by a saintly person. We wisely ignore or reinterpret the things that we now understand to be false or evil or just a waste of time. The miraculous stuff is in there to alert us to the important things. But the story that Yahweh commanded the Israelites to kill every living thing in Palestine is one that I choose to take with a grain of salt. Deuteronomy 20:16-18.

Jesus did not preach about a life to come. He spoke about a revolution in this life - call it the gospel of good news. Liberation theology if you will. The Kingdom of God is a symbol, a metaphor for the “ideal world” of humankind. Our own utopia.

His vision, his gospel, was not based on research and science, but on prayer and reflection.

He took the best of his tradition, refined it, polished it, and told stories about it. He was a prophet, a preacher. Those who heard him first hand were often changed, inspired to follow him.

And then he died, a failure on a cross - a symbol of Roman torture.

I think he had an amazing insight into how human society works. We are social. Our best and greatest accomplishments are in the realm of love of neighbor. Everything else, science, industry, invention, economics, only serve that end. 

We have had subsequent preachers who share this vision - but they are few and far between. Francis of Assissi, Dorothy Day. Martin Luher King, Mahatma Gandhi - and they were not without flaws. But  . . . they pointed in the same direction.

And I think this author is along those lines.  Rutger Bregman.

AND he has a new one - Moral Ambition. Check it out. 

The challenge here is, of course, how do we persuade folks that this is doable and a good idea. It's called "organizing." Putting the ideas out there is a preliminary step. Doing it is WORK. More on that later. See: Don't Talk About Politics: How to Change 21st-Century Minds