Overcoming Dualistic Thinking

For many in my generation it’s been very easy throughout our lives to distinguish right from wrong, good from evil and fidelity from fault. I considered myself as good at it as anyone. But I’m being a bit facetious here. We (my generation) may have thought we could make these distinctions quite instinctively, but how are our views holding up in the post-modern world in which we live?

We were, after all, raised by a generation who clung to high standards of character, behavior, and deportment. And we hoped we pretty much stayed the course with regard to rearing our kids. Now, kids of my generation have grown into adults, some even approaching middle age. My case may be quite different from yours, but I’m finding that my sons have quite contrasting ways in which they discern truth than those of my era. And as difficult as it is to face, I’m finding that their processes of seeking truth, justice and the moral way seem to hold up quite a bit better than mine – or at least they stand up better to intense scrutiny.

For us. right was right and wrong was wrong, and we knew (were told) the difference. And if we strayed, look out ‘cause G-O-O-O-O-D (God) was watching. In my case, those childhood learned “rights and wrongs”, “goods and bads” pretty much carried forward into adulthood without much critical thought about them (an example of “skewed Christian formation” as pointed out to me by my more learned sons).

As an example, I was always taught the typical mid-America mores: go to school, study hard, get good grades, work hard, apply yourself. If you do all those things, you can’t help but be successful. And success in a capitalistic society brings a degree of wealth. Here’s the problem: To my best recollection, never once in my upbringing was I ever challenged with the immorality of wealth and consumption in our culture when compared with most of the world. Not from parents. Not from church. And not from school until college – and even then, if you took a course which dealt with western overindulgences, you thought the instructor was a commie.

We took great pride in thinking that we were better than the rest of the world because we had engineered an economic system which brought us so much more, but we totally ignored the immorality of the disparity. At the same time, interestingly, we sure were aware of and understood all the pitfalls of promiscuity, lieing, cheating, stealing, gossiping and hating. We figured out how to profitably navigate morality in our little micro world, but we had no clue that the pursuits of our then fairly isolated sector of the globe would eventually have an effect on the rest of the planet.

The stark reality is that because I was born here in America I was given all this opportunity. This country is a wonderful place, and I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else. But in my dualistic world "our way" was equated with being good, right and just. I never considered all these benefits as a chance of birth. I never even thought about the poor hombre just south of our border who works six and seven days a week from sun-up to sunset to earn in a month what we can earn in a week or even a day. And if I did ever consider it, I was thankful I wasn't him. (Why did my mind stop there?)

Don’t misunderstand me. Our capitalistic system has brought just about the greatest everything to our lives. But it is not ALL good (as in a black and white world). The immorality begins to creep in when we discover the unbelievable imbalance both in our riches and in our consumption of resources relative to the rest of the world. And we are moral failures in my view – especially as Christians – when we blindly continue in our ways.

It’s been easy for me all these years to justify my way to a fat and full life. Now I need to confront the very harsh truth that for me to live as I do is an injustice to those who cannot. At the same time I’m a realist. I could give everything away that I have, and it wouldn’t make a dent in poverty. I don’t think that’s the point. In a nuanced world – in contrast to a “black and white” world – we who have the ability to think, read the scriptures, follow the teachings of Christ, and apply them to our lives so it will affect those around us, have an obligation to start somewhere.