Examining the Way You Think 

Photo Credit: Pixabay.com

We are very close to the formal start of our election process which usually begins on Labor Day. But we will be enduring an insufferable summer for more than hot days and humid nights. Political fires will ignite furies and tempers under the embers of our anxieties smoldering as they were for the past four years just waiting for the first match to be thrown. 

I have given a lot of thought to this situation which seems endemic to our country for some time. I have seen it from a spiritual conclave, a perspective, if you will, not beholden to any political party but a detached place from which I could observe, like a drone, what appears to be our current situation and what it might need to move forward according to God’s will. 

Ah, yes, God’s will. 

From my ‘drone’ perspective, we might notice the division in our country-and even our faith, I might add, in this way: there are basically two factions that make our division visible. One is what psychologists and sociologists refer to as the group of non-binary thinkers; the other is the group of binary thinkers. Neither group is pure goodness or pure evil. But, depending on the issue, some members of each group will drift into goodness or evil. This ‘map’ which the drone sees from hundreds of feet above us, strikingly demonstrates a similarity found in the two hemispheres of the human brain.  

According to Dr. Andrew Newberg, physician and professor, and Mark Robert Waldman, professor at the College of Business, Loyola University,  

the right hemisphere of our brain is open to the more ‘freeing’ elements of our psyche. It is qualitatively wired for appreciation and judgment in art, music, creativity, writing and the services for human need such as psychology and sociology. The left hemisphere is the binary thinking center.  It is wired for quantitative judgments that rely on numbers or statistics or solid proof as solutions to problems. People leaning to the left brain most likely are comfortable as scientists, programmers, forensic investigators, pollsters, etc. It is important to remember that a wholesome person in life and in religion, is a combination of both hemispheres even if inclined to one over the other. For instance, some of the greatest scientists have been recognized as outstanding poets. And many writers are exceptional scientific analysts.  

So, how do these two ways of thinking add to our division? Binary thinking is mostly positivist thinking. A positivist says if you can’t prove something to me, I do not believe you. For the positivist there is only white or black, no gray areas resulting in a sometimes wrong and painful decision. Positivist, or binary thinking, has put many people in jail based on proof that eventually was shown to be inconclusive when the science of DNA was discovered and applied. Binary thinking is the basis of computer programming, and we know how we have to work in linear fashion, backward and forward, to correct any error we make while using our laptops.  

Right brain thinking has some caveats as well. Living too much from the right brain can bring on a laissez faire attitude where you might simply give up on courageous confrontations or discussions that are sensitive but your comfort with the truth will be enlivened if you can rationally, calmly explain a less rigid position. Right brain individuals must be careful not to let anger fester and this is extremely challenging in the political arena. You can be angry at the destructive action taken, the lies told, the violence exhibited but you cannot be hateful or spiteful for the people responsible for these.  

A friend alerted me to Ken Burns’ commencement speech given at Brandeis University last month. Burns, the acclaimed documentarian, shared that he has tried all his professional life to be politically neutral in his work even though he dealt with interpreting political mavericks in his films. But he has become concerned enough to disband that neutrality at this “existential crossroads” as he called the situation in our country right now, and to speak out. With the popularity of AI and the growing universe of media platforms such as blogs, partisan religion radio programs, podcasts of every stripe, TikTok, Instagram, etc., etc., We are inundated with untruths constantly. Case-in-point: A video goes viral showing President Biden fumbling for his chair as he spoke at Normandy last week. In reality, the chair was removed from the video clip and not the stage! When Biden glanced to see where it was, it looked like he had no knowledge of its place and almost sat down without it! He did see the chair and paused only because the introduction of Defense Secretary had begun, and Biden chose to wait for it. The entire scene was fabricated but fed into countless recipients who commented negatively on Biden’s age and so-called unfitness for the job. 

Burns encouraged graduates in his speech not to settle for media tripe that has one objective in mind: to blur our intelligence with contrived messages and mean-spirited untruths about someone. If these efforts succeed, Burns feels we are destined to lose our democracy. Be adventurous; read different points of view, live outside the box of a binary life and encounter differences, diversity, and joy with openness. After you listen to other ways of thinking, you are more prepared to create your own opinion with honesty. 

Reflection 

Burns’ closing note was a serious acclamation: VOTE! He believes that most Americans do not subscribe to demonizing the opponent but to pointing out where untruths and inconsistencies and inaccuracies exist. He believes candidates must discuss policies and personal philosophies and not spew vitriol at each other. We are better than that. We have to use informed media and thoughtful analysts to determine this, not opinionated persons who cater to our thinking. We need to listen to each other. We cannot be binary in our thinking. 

Read your scriptures this week, especially the Gospels and see how Jesus thought outside the box. He was not a binary thinker. “Blessed are those who do not see and yet believe…”   

Works consulted: How God Changes Your Brain by Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman. 

Commencement speech of Ken Burns to Brandeis University Graduates, May 2024 on Google.