"You Might be Right..."
For my first author talk in Crestone, I prepared a bunch of notes and printed out a bunch of excerpts, but I spoke off the cuff, anyway. One theme that emerged from the talk was "You might be right..."
A friend told me that the earth is 6,000 years old, that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time, and that everyone and everything perished in the big flood. "I don't think so," I said. "We're at 8,000 feet right now. Did the water get this high? Where did all of the water come from? Where did all of the water go? Why don't we find dinosaur bones in human bellies or human bones in dinosaur bellies?"
Then, I added (and this is an important part) "You might be right." The truth is that I was not here (neither was he) either 6,000 years ago or 4 billion years ago. All theology is speculation. "Orthodoxy" is speculation that is well-accepted, and "heresy" is speculation that is not well-accepted.
"You might be right" is a gracious way to end a conversation without having to advance or retreat, so it is also a very good way to start a conversation. When we say, "You might be right," the unsaid part is "or you might be wrong," and that can open the door for further dialogue.
Some people see only one side of an issue. Think about our current political situation -- inflation is up, the stock market is down. Bad stuff. Think about the rest of the story -- corporate profits are up, the deficit is down, the dollar is high, and the unemployment rate is low. Good stuff.
If we think that everything is bad, and nothing is good (or that everything is good, and nothing is bad) then we are living in a fantasy world, not the real world.
If we confuse beliefs with facts, then we do not realize when we disagree about beliefs, not facts.
Wars are always fought over beliefs; wars are never fought over facts. Alternative facts and fake news and Facebook rants and twitter wars are about beliefs, not facts.
You might see things differently. You might be right.
A friend told me that the earth is 6,000 years old, that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time, and that everyone and everything perished in the big flood. "I don't think so," I said. "We're at 8,000 feet right now. Did the water get this high? Where did all of the water come from? Where did all of the water go? Why don't we find dinosaur bones in human bellies or human bones in dinosaur bellies?"
Then, I added (and this is an important part) "You might be right." The truth is that I was not here (neither was he) either 6,000 years ago or 4 billion years ago. All theology is speculation. "Orthodoxy" is speculation that is well-accepted, and "heresy" is speculation that is not well-accepted.
"You might be right" is a gracious way to end a conversation without having to advance or retreat, so it is also a very good way to start a conversation. When we say, "You might be right," the unsaid part is "or you might be wrong," and that can open the door for further dialogue.
Some people see only one side of an issue. Think about our current political situation -- inflation is up, the stock market is down. Bad stuff. Think about the rest of the story -- corporate profits are up, the deficit is down, the dollar is high, and the unemployment rate is low. Good stuff.
If we think that everything is bad, and nothing is good (or that everything is good, and nothing is bad) then we are living in a fantasy world, not the real world.
If we confuse beliefs with facts, then we do not realize when we disagree about beliefs, not facts.
Wars are always fought over beliefs; wars are never fought over facts. Alternative facts and fake news and Facebook rants and twitter wars are about beliefs, not facts.
You might see things differently. You might be right.
