One of our faculty explained that the key requirement of her class is for students to identify what they hold sacred. She is using the term, I should hasten to add, in the secular sense. All of us have certain beliefs or assumptions that we hold sacred, and it drives us nuts when others do not share these assumptions. For my friend, Carrie, it's the sacredness of being there for your family, immediate and extended (that, and having the salt and pepper shakers properly aligned with each other, at home or camping, doesn't matter). For many Libertarians, like my wild Uncle John, it's the concept of self reliance and shrinking government.
Problem is, when we bump up against people with other assumptions, we tend to keep repeating our beliefs rather than examining them and other people's more closely, let alone considering that our sacred beliefs are bound to be incomplete, that they should be, in a very real sense, contingent and open to revision, even as they guide us.
Reinhold Niebuhr years ago pointed out that devout Christians should be particularly sensitive to the limitations of the human mind, that every Christian should rest assured that some of her or his dearest beliefs and assumptions about God are bound to be wrong--we just don't know which ones.
Humility, then, is a great virtue in intellectual and religious life, alike. But we do not seem to be predisposed to it.
David, as we struggle to understand and appreciate this new and different culture, I think humility is something we are starting to hold sacred. We have to come as learners and guests....(Jody A.)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jody--that makes a lot of sense!
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