Leaning into that Complexity
Admitting that we don’t have all the answers doesn’t make any of us wishy-washy or a flip-floppers. It makes us wiser and deepens our understanding as humans. And oh my goodness do we need as many wise and understanding humans as we can get these days.
Life certainly isn’t simple any more is it? Not to say that its ever really been simple before but now with all the worldwide conflicts, the digital connections that cast out there web connecting all of us in billions of different ways, the social changes that are taking place right before our eyes that we know history books will try to make sense out of for decades to come, not to mention all of the complications that the recent pandemic, political polarization, and civil strife that we’ve all experienced. To put it mildly, we’ve all had a lot on our plate and on our minds lately.
One thing that all of us have had to get better at over the last while is how to hold two, not exactly complementary, ideas in our minds at the same time and consider the truth that both contain. The phrase “Things aren’t black or white,” even isn’t a black or white phrase anymore because in today’s vernacular even that common phrase carries a political connotation. But there seems to be a few possible ways of dealing with this complexity of ideas.
One way that I’ve seen be popularized by certain groups is to deny the very existence of the complexity and hold almost religiously to the belief that things are only one way and the response to anybody who disagrees with that point of view they quite vehemently demonize. I haven’t seen very healthy or good outcomes come out of that particular approach.
The second way that I’ve seen things play out in this complex world where we must weigh multiple ideas at once is too relish in the complexity, admit the complexity, but never do the hard and grueling work of actually coming to any conclusions. I’ve seen many people celebrate in the world’s current complexities which is wonderful but when push comes to shove, we need to make some sense out of the world that we live in which means we have to make decisions on what we believe, who we want to become, who we are currently, and how to best help the world become a better place now and for future generations. This approach can be infuriating for people that see things very concretely and with a one-sided view like the first group I described above.
The last possible major response to this complexity is to recognize the complexity, recognize that none of us have all of the answers or all of the information or all of the authority to make all of the decisions that need to be made, but yet such individuals try to make the best determinations they can based on the best information that they have available at any given moment. The key factor to being in that third group is humility.
I don’t know where we got the misguided belief that humility is in any way weak. It seems like a large part of our society today downplays or outright decries humility as lacking in fortitude and conviction as if it’s more important that we passionately hold to false ideas and unhealthy beliefs than it is to seek for truth. But true humility gives people the ability to wade through these very ambiguous and tough situations that we deal with based on the ability and the foresight to realize that when we have better answers or clearer visions of things we can and should change our view.
Humility gives us the opportunity to see that we don’t have all the answers right now while also recognizing that those answers are worthy of pursuing and so as those answers become clear it’s humility that gives us the ability to shift and pivot. That doesn’t make any of us wishy-washy or a flip-floppers. It makes us wiser and deepens our understanding as humans. And oh my goodness do we need as many wise and understanding humans as we can get these days.