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“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” -- Romans 12:3
In the lexicon of life’s micro-vexations, I would include the exasperation of looking up the definition of a word only to find that the word looked up was defined by the very word you looked up, which is really no help at all. If you want to know the meaning of the adjective, decipherable, you will find this definition offered in the dictionary –– that can be deciphered. If you try to discover the meaning of defined, the dictionary offers –– having a definition, or how about dance –– an act of dancing. The aggravation arrives if you don’t know the meaning of the root word, because seeing it used in the definition provides no further understanding.
However, this week I came across a word defined by itself in a way that expanded my understanding of its meaning, and in addition, provided a lens into why our capacities for conversation and cooperation are breaking down.
Viewpoint –– “Every viewpoint is a view from a point.” Richard Rohr is a highly respected author, spiritual guide, and Franciscan Priest, whose writings provide nourishment in the spiritual desert of our culture’s landscape. In his book, The Wisdom Pattern, he traces the contours of the important journey that leads from a self-centered worldview to a God-centered worldview: Order –– Disorder –– Reorder. That journey begins with the kind of self-examination/realization that takes us from arrogance to humility. Much of our angst stems from our frustration that the people around us don’t see the world the way we do. How much energy, time, and emotion do we waste fretting that someone doesn’t understand and will not accept that we are “right”? Most of the time, we are confusing truth with opinion.
Viewpoint –– “Every viewpoint is a view from a point.” You perceive the world from where you are standing, but someone standing at a different place, viewing from an alternate angle, probably sees contours, lines, and shadows that you cannot see, just as you see contours, lines, and shadows that are not visible to others. If those alternate viewpoints can enter into humble conversation with each other, acknowledging the limitations of their own view, a fuller, broader, and better informed view becomes possible. Rohr speaks of the need to “decentralize” our viewpoint. What was it that Atticus Finch advised Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird? "You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it”
“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.”
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