From Polarization to Pluralism

We know that our world is becoming more and more polarized. Issues are seen as black and white. We are expected to judge things as right or wrong, good or bad. We are being pulled by seemingly diametrically opposed sides to choose. All shades of grey and middle ground are disappearing.

We desperately need a move toward pluralism. Pluralism is an appreciation of diversity. Uniformity and agreement are not the goals. Pluralism is not about accepting behavior, words or actions that are harmful physically, emotionally or spiritually. In essence, pluralism says we can think differently, worship differently, dress differently, like different things, even vote differently and we can still treat each other with respect. I understand that this can be exceedingly difficult at times.

Jesus typically acted in a pluralistic way, not judging, welcoming and accepting different people into his circle. There are many stories of him healing or interacting with someone who wasn’t a Jewish man, but I didn’t find an adequate overarching teaching about pluralism. So, I turned to the Baha’i scripture because the basis of their faith is that all religious paths lead to the same Divine Essence, and so each should be appreciated. Each can be learned from.

Baha’i scripture encourages pluralism through interaction with people of other religious traditions. It says, “Consort with [people of all] religions with spirituality and fragrance… All originated from God and return to God: truly God is the Source of creation and the Goal of the worlds.” And another passage states, “They whose hearts are warmed by the energizing influence of God’s creative love cherish all creatures for God’s sake and recognize in every human face a sign of God’s reflected glory.”

What beautiful teachings. The Baha’i scripture says get to know other people, consort with them, talk with them, hang out with them. Get to know their stories, their thoughts, their families, fears, successes and failures, their understanding of God, what they want in life. Hopefully consorting with others will lead to deeper understanding and away from polarization. This is a change that starts with each of us. But we have to want it to change us. We have to want to stop our critical inner dialog.

Pema Chodron, in her book, Welcoming the Unwelcome, wrote, “If we’re honest with ourselves, we’ll see that we habitually dehumanize others for many reasons… If we commit to being aware of our tendency to polarize, and we counteract that by [awakening our hearts and minds for the goodness of all,] we will gradually close these gaps. Then we’ll be able to see all people as fellow human beings who want to be happy just like us.”

If we’re “honest with ourselves.” That’s the ticket! And how hard can that be when our knee-jerk reactions fill us with intense emotions of anger and annoyance. It is so easy to move from there to thinking less of, or dehumanizing, people instantaneously. Even without talking politics I bet we could make a good list of things people do that triggers us to think less of them. How about people who drive 5 miles under the speed limit? Or people who still use a check at the grocery store? Or the parent who yells at their child at Target? Or…??

This type of thinking increases the gap between us, pushes us farther away from each other, and polarizes us. Polarization sees others as a threat, as a problem, as someone to blame, as “bad.” Polarization wants to say, “I’m not like them, I’m better than them.”

So, here’s the choice we all have to make. We can choose to stick with our snap judgments, anger, and derogatory thinking. Or we can choose to look inside ourselves with courage, acknowledge what we are doing, and try to make a better choice. To do make a better choice, Chodron suggests we try a couple of things:

• Ask ourselves if it matters. Does it matter that someone is wearing their pajamas to the store? Does this affect me in any way? No? Let it go without putting energy into judging.
• Try Unconditional Positive Regard. In other words, give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe the slow driver can’t see well, but needs to pick up his meds and just wants to get there and home safely.
• Or if those two things don’t work, or don’t apply (because sometimes it does matter, and sometimes people aren’t motivated by good) we could say to ourselves, “I’m not going to add to the negative polarization in the world.”

Let’s talk about religious pluralism for a moment. Religious pluralism is the belief that different religious belief systems can coexist in society and that all world religions are equally valid in their communication of the truth. 

The very basis for this is understanding that there is not one right religion, not one right way to God. A Chinese proverb says, “There are many paths up the mountain, but the same view.” Each path to God is different, just as paths up the mountain will be different, but the destination is the same, the goal of connecting with Source is the same.

Pluralism is exciting because there is richness in diversity, the possibility to understand an aspect of the divine that our own religion doesn’t emphasize. Pluralism is possible only as long as it doesn’t cause harm. We need to remember that there are extremes in every religion that have unhealthy practices and theology. We will be sticking with traditional, mainline theology and practices as we talk about the major world religions.

In the case of world religions, there is one more thing we can do and that is educate ourselves. Knowledge and understanding is a key way to lessen the gap between us and “them.” That is what I will be striving to do in the next five weeks. Bring some basic knowledge about each religion and also touch on at least one theological thing about each that I appreciate and that I believe could enhance and broaden our understanding of the divine.

The takeaway for today, I hope, is that we all have a role in the polarization happening in the world (even trying to blame it on others sets up a polarity!) And the only one we can truly change is ourselves. I invite us all to work on becoming more aware of our thoughts, actions, attitudes and behaviors that contribute to the negative polarization in the world, and work toward lessening them.

Love & Light!

Kaye