The more I learn the less I know.
This seems counterintuitive but it is a truth in which I live.
I read thoughtful and persuasive analyses from the right and I shake my head in agreement. They are right. Then I listen to arguments from the left and find myself nodding agreement with them. I exist in that voluble mixture between those polar extremes where mutually exclusive truths abide.
To make matters worse, even such obvious issues like abortion, the “woke” generation, and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are fraught with divergent viewpoints, all of which are cogent and convincing when read with an open mind. I envy people whose opinions are so ironclad that they see no option other than their firmly held belief. They are convinced that they are the cardholders of truth. I, on the other hand, am not so sure.
All I know is what I know in a moment. Every person must be heard, every well-considered opinion valued. And then, “judge each instance, all people, with an positively disposed eye in favor of their merit.” (a paraphrase of Avot 1:6). Everyone is right at some point. What is said to ridiculously wrong now, may turn to be prophetic. Schopenhauer observed, “All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.” Three examples we all recognize are Copernicus, Galileo (both were violently oppressed) and John F. Kennedy (with his lofty vision of people on the moon). It is the same with virtually every visionary who ever lived.
So how do we keep from making decisions that pokes holes in ultimate truths (and not ephemeral ones)? I have often referenced Martin Luther King’s life as an outlier. He had many more enemies than friends, more people who hated him than admirers. Now, we uniformly view him as prophetic but that was not the case during his life. The same is true of Abraham Joshua Heschel, whom we revere today but was largely ignored as irrelevant in his own time.
As I listen to the many arguments on every side, I find that I am less sure of what I thought I knew. In fact, arguing to prove we are right often ends up either in an “echo chamber” or pitting us against those with whom vehemently disagree; neither of which is productive. A Hasid once declared, “It’s better to lose an argument and win a friendship, than win an argument and lose a friendship.” The Baal Shem Tov went even further when he observed that which we despise in others is often what we dislike most in ourselves. A sobering thought.
So what do I know? Only this:
Ø Do good for others. Find opportunities to lift up those who are bent under the weight of oppressive pain.
Ø Reach out beyond yourself to touch the God of our soul expressing gratitude for all that we have and not what is absent.
All else is an expression of ego or a passing fad.
