The humble path forward

Twentieth-century physicist David Bohm spoke of how thought is literally an abstraction. Our thoughts about anything are only what we pull from it, what we abstract.

Our thoughts about an individual do not capture the totality of that individual any more than our thoughts about an issue capture the totality of that issue. So we pull from it what we can and leave the whole where it is. So we have a piece of it, a partial understanding.

This recognition gives us the possibility of tolerance, connection, and progress. Instead of being intolerant of thoughts that are different relative to any issue or being intolerant of those who think differently, we can recognize that their piece of it - their thoughts - might be complementary to ours and that together we might have a better idea of the whole.

That is why our chance for successfully emerging from this pandemic and addressing long-standing issues - such as poverty and the inequities in our country - comes with our ability to be humble, to allow for the fact that our thoughts are helpful but not infallible. As we do that, our words and, more importantly, our actions can unify in their intent. As a result, we can live not against one another but with one another, no matter how different our ideas may seem.

Our best path forward is one in which we look for the synergy of what we once considered competing thoughts. This requires confidence in and respect for one another, and it highlights that our connection to one another is, in part, defined by each of us having our piece of the whole.

Humility is not easy when passions run high. Yet we need passion and humility if we are to solve the great problems of today. And the more humble our steps, the further we can travel together.