This came up on my TED feed recently...
"What's it like to grow up within a group of people who exult in demonizing ... everyone else? Megan Phelps-Roper shares details of life inside America's most controversial church and describes how conversations on Twitter were key to her decision to leave it. In this extraordinary talk, she shares her personal experience of extreme polarization, along with some sharp ways we can learn to successfully engage across ideological lines."
She outlines how she got from the hate spewing closed minded WBC people we see on the news, to fully reconsider her entire world view. I say, "Thank God she escaped them".
I loved hearing about the path of how she changed her mind, and how perhaps we can embrace those who may not share our understanding of truth. Some would say her mind was changed by others, but I believe they only helped her find the way. She changed her mind, but the way was lit by the grace, and patience of those willing to allow her to understand.
I think most important to me was the reinforcement of how in discussions we need to make the case for our understanding of “Truth”. I see her as an example of how gentle sunshine and relentless enlightenment will tend to win out over biting coldness and bluster. If we are sharing important ideas, we should be consistent, be gentle, be respectful, and make the case for why our idea is the "truth" as we see it.
It gives me some hope in these seemingly cold, biting, blustery and hopeless times. I will try to be the sunshine.
The Wind and the Sun
THE WIND and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveller coming down the road, and the Sun said: “I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveller to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger You begin.” So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveller. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveller wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveller, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.
Æsop. (Sixth century B.C.) Fables.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
"What's it like to grow up within a group of people who exult in demonizing ... everyone else? Megan Phelps-Roper shares details of life inside America's most controversial church and describes how conversations on Twitter were key to her decision to leave it. In this extraordinary talk, she shares her personal experience of extreme polarization, along with some sharp ways we can learn to successfully engage across ideological lines."
She outlines how she got from the hate spewing closed minded WBC people we see on the news, to fully reconsider her entire world view. I say, "Thank God she escaped them".
I loved hearing about the path of how she changed her mind, and how perhaps we can embrace those who may not share our understanding of truth. Some would say her mind was changed by others, but I believe they only helped her find the way. She changed her mind, but the way was lit by the grace, and patience of those willing to allow her to understand.
I think most important to me was the reinforcement of how in discussions we need to make the case for our understanding of “Truth”. I see her as an example of how gentle sunshine and relentless enlightenment will tend to win out over biting coldness and bluster. If we are sharing important ideas, we should be consistent, be gentle, be respectful, and make the case for why our idea is the "truth" as we see it.
It gives me some hope in these seemingly cold, biting, blustery and hopeless times. I will try to be the sunshine.
The Wind and the Sun
THE WIND and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveller coming down the road, and the Sun said: “I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveller to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger You begin.” So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveller. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveller wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveller, who soon found it too hot to walk with his cloak on.
Æsop. (Sixth century B.C.) Fables.
The Harvard Classics. 1909–14.
”There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." - Hamlet (1.5.167-8), Hamlet to Horatio.
![[Image: yVR5oE.png]](http://imagizer.imageshack.com/img924/329/yVR5oE.png)
![[Image: VKQ0KLG.png]](http://i.imgur.com/VKQ0KLG.png)