The way we think about our world really matters!

Franciscan Richard Rohr has written extensively about unitive thinking. In fact it is through his writings that I was introduced to this concept of how to think about my world. 

According to Rohr we humans cannot rise (his term is paradoxically “fall”) to the level of unitive thinking without having experienced a spiritual transformation. Unitive thinking is the mode of thought that produces unity as opposed to dichotomous thinking, which creates divisiveness (I recommend his great book: Falling Upward). Unitive thinking is a higher form of thinking. A more mature way.

Dichotomous thinking is dualistic thinking. We were taught at a very early age to think in dualistic categories. This is not all bad. We had to start somewhere in the ways we think as humans and this just seems to be our most elementary mode of thinking. 

For example, the 2016 Presidential election demonstrates just how dualistic we Americans are in the way we view our world, not to mention in the ways we think about resolving our most difficult problems. I'm not suggesting that this is all bad, it is just the way it is.

Our country seems to be split right down the middle as to which party is best suited to govern America. Half of America thinks the Democrats are better suited while the other half think it is the Republicans (give or take a few percentage points).

On a smaller but no less significant scale we observe dualistic thinking over issues such as climate change, abortion, unions, economics, welfare, Social Security, and so on. As a society we seem to be spilt right down the middle over the ways we ought to think about these issues.

Dualistic thinking also impacts us religiously as well. American Christianity is divided between so-called Liberal and Conservative traditions. There are actually signs that we are maturing towards a more unitive way of understanding our faith but there is yet so much to do before it becomes the norm--if it ever will.

Because we think in dualistic categories we have thus created an either/or world in which we appear to be indelibly divided. 

According to Rohr there isn’t much hope for the population at large to ever mature enough to practice unitive thinking as a society. This isn’t an elitist judgment on society at large, it is just the reality in which we all live.

So is it possible to move in the direction of unitive thinking? Perhaps. As individuals we can grow and mature in the ways we think about our world. It’s not easy. In fact it is very hard to move in the direction of unitive thinking simply because we have to give up our old ways of thinking. 

Quite frankly most of us do not aspire to changing the way we think. We are indeed creatures of habit and the way we think about our world is one of those things that is highly addictive. The dualistic way of thinking is a comfortable place to be for us. 

As difficult as it may be to admit our individual identity is too often shaped by dualistic thinking: I am conservative and not like that liberal down the street or a liberal and not like my conservative neighbor next door. I am a Christian and not a Muslim or a Buddhist. I am an American and not a Mexican or a Canadian.

Once again dualistic thinking helps define us.

I personally believe that the Apostle Paul had matured to such a level that unitive thinking shaped his view of the world, especially in the ways he thought about those unlike himself. It took time but he seemed to have matured in the way he thought about his world.

The following is an example of just how much of a unitive thinker Paul had become:

“There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

I am not hopeful that society at large will ever progress to the level of unitive thinking. But I do have hopes that people of faith, regardless of what brand your faith is, can and should move in the direction of a more unitive way of thinking about our world and our place in it.

I sincerely believe that it was immature dualistic thinking that has helped create a divided America. It is the form of thinking that actually keeps us a divided nation. 

It will require a more mature and unitive way of thinking that will help us solve the bigger issues of our day and bring some degree of unity to our nation. This will minimally require us to admit that we may have been wrong in our thinking and move towards a more unitive approach to resolving our problems. 

Can we do it?

Yes!

Will we do it?

That remains to be seen.

Forgive me if I’m cautiously optimistic. 

 What do you think?