All tagged division

A Huge Number of Evangelical Christians Say This is Their #1 Voting Issue

A Huge Number of Evangelical Christians Say This is Their #1 Voting Issue

Garrett Jones
Politics

Unity is not agreement; it is staying together despite disagreement. Unity is not conformity; it is a generosity of being that not merely allows but deeply desires a diversity of expression. Unity is not an organizational chart or authority structure; it is an empowering culture where every individual believes in their agency and autonomy and has the support of their community to launch out, take risks, be creative, and accomplish greatness. Unity is not commanded; it is earned. Unity cannot coexist with fear but thrives in love. Unity is not to-each-his-own, laissez-faire tolerance; it is blood-sweat-and-tears, deeply invested care in the well-being of others. Unity is not a destination to arrive at; it is a destination to aim at and a vehicle of kindness to ride in on the way there…

Confirmation Bias: 9 Ways to Know If You're Wrong (When You Feel So Right)

Confirmation Bias: 9 Ways to Know If You're Wrong (When You Feel So Right)

Garrett Jones
Emotional Health, Politics

We can simultaneously hold two things to be true: 1) Some people are deceived, and 2) Those who are deceived don't know (or are unwilling to admit) they are deceived, otherwise they would not be deceived. This raises a question: Can one ever know they are deceived? Or are we all doomed to be in a perpetual perceptual blind spot? Is Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle at work in our ideologies, such that discovering our own internal contradictions—the place behind our eyeballs where our biases meet our perceptions—becomes impossible? How much do we choose the narratives we believe and how much do the narratives we believe choose the narratives we believe? Circular questions like these can lead us into a catatonic black hole of naval-gazing introspection, but hey, we're all pretty far deep inside our myopic rabbit holes. I think it's time we begin digging ourselves out of our dopamine addictions.

We Hold the Keys to a United Future

We Hold the Keys to a United Future

Garrett Jones
Justice, Politics, Vision

We are his beloved. We are not a random evolutionary event happening on a lifeless rock floating through emotionally-detached space. No, this planet is alive. The universe is alive. And we are connected to all of it. We are the children of all of it being connected. We are the tip of the flame of a universe on fire. We are the manifestation of all the desires of divinity. We are the crown jewel on the big bang. We are the apple of God's eye. We are what he's been waiting for and desiring since the beginning. We are center-stage in a drama of universe-wide proportions and deep, deep significance.

Two simple things we must do with our anger today.

Two simple things we must do with our anger today.

Garrett Jones
Politics

If there's one thing that has crossed party lines, transcends race, gender, age, and creed without bias, it is the fact that we've all had something to stew about in these days. The right rages worried that their will has been violated and their voices not heard—fearful that an election (and their hoped-for country) has been stolen from them. The left lurches with loathing over the putrid pandering to a puerile pack of proud-less proud boys. If you've denounced and renounced violence done in the name of a cause, good for you, but many on both “sides” of our alternate realities are still ANG-A-RY. And that anger, left unprocessed, will be the undoing of our nation. "United we stand," will give way to "divided we fall," if we do not act fast.