Last night - and continuing today - the world wide nets have been in a flurry of conversation and confusion over the color of a dress. It has been fascinating to watch because it is so obviously white and gold - maybe very light blue/periwinkle and bronze. So obvious, in fact, that I have actually denied any proof to the contrary.
I had an interesting conversation with myself as I went to bed last night. "If half the people see the dress as black and blue," I mused, "how can you be sure you're right?"
"Because I have nearly perfect vision and...well, because I trust my brain!" I huffed back.
Good argument. Very convincing.
I'm right and everyone else is wrong.
Heels have been dug in. Arms have been crossed.
It didn't take long for me to see this very silly debate online as a metaphor for just about all other debates going on around me. It made me think of this interview with Jonathan Haidt on Krista Tippett's podcast On Being. Haidt shows that our brains, in some ways, are actually hardwired to be conservative or liberal and that this can actually be demonstrated with some fairly simple experiments.
If my eyes are basically hardwired to see color a certain way there is nothing I can do about it. It has become clear to me that there is almost no way to change my mind about the dress. Not explanatory videos, not additional images. I have rationalized everything so that my original vision was correct - the dress is white and gold!
Am I equally stubborn and "blind" when it comes to my politics? My religious beliefs? My life choices? Do I self-rationalize to the exclusion of illuminating evidence?
Today, with so many options for news sources and information we can virtually choose our "facts". "Fact" and "truth" has become almost entirely subjective. It never ceases to amaze me that I, an NPR listening, MSNBC watching liberal, can have a conversation with a Fox News watching conservative and we have completely different, opposing "facts" about events and statistics, about what Obama or Boehner have or have not done, about the best or right economic and social policies.
The same goes for Christianity - likely for all religious and spiritual expressions. I, as a progressive, liberal Christian read the Bible and understand tradition in very particular ways. My more conservative, evangelical friends and family read the same Bible and understand the same traditions in vastly different ways.
We have gotten to the point where it is hard to talk and listen to one another. It feels like half of us are shouting "It's white and gold!" about politics and religion and the other half is responding "It's blue and black!"
I'm not arguing for moral relativism. Instead, I think my point is that increasingly our "facts" are subjective. Our minds are programmed to see the world in a particular way. Our truths are shaped by who we are, where we come from and what we consume. We need to try to step back from what we assume is obviously, blatantly "right". Perhaps we can then say, "I see white and gold, but maybe there are other ways to see it. Maybe from your angle it is blue and black. And maybe, just maybe, those other ways of seeing are valid, and also true."
(Ok, in all honesty, I now accept that the actual dress is black and blue. Minds can be changed!)
