I was thinking about this week’s Journal Entry whilst listening to a TED talk from 2008. It was given by Jonathan Haidt and it was about the moral roots of differing political schools of thought. During the presentation wherein he explains that people typically can’t find common ground because both sides enter into a "group-think" where they ignore truth and give in to sanctimonious posturing against the foe. He explains the process by which we can avoid such folly.
Haidt says, when confronted with the opportunity to vilify and disparage your adversaries on philosophical issues,
"... just try to see it as a struggle playing out, in which everybody does think they're right, and everybody, at least, has some reasons — even if you disagree with them — everybody has some reasons for what they're doing. Step out. And if you do that, that's the essential move to cultivate moral humility, to get yourself out of this self-righteousness, which is the normal human condition."
This goes hand in hand with what Stephen R. Covey was attempting to explain with his rule, “First seek to understand, then seek to be understood.” Many of us entrench ourselves with an “us vs. them” or “good vs. evil” mindset when debating or struggling over issues. Often we ignore what is right and concern ourselves far too much with who is right. We need to find the morality, the common purpose, filter that through the will of our Father in Heaven, and then together we can choose the most effective course. This converts an emotional discussion into a mathematical decision. It only happens when both sides can agree on the principle, not the passion.
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