It's very dangerous to surround yourself with people that agree with you. You usually end up thinking about how wonderful you and your ideas are after an evening with like minded folk. I scratch your back, you scratch mine - we can all sit in a nice circle and think nice thoughts about how clever we all are, and how much fun it is to be us and to be thinking such wise thoughts.
Come to think of it, why do we even talk about anything with anyone that we agree with? How is it possible that we spend half an hour discussing an issue that we both are in perfect accord about? Isn't it to hear our own voice, and to hear another voice validate us right back?
Why are we so afraid of dissent? Not arguing, but dissent - disagreement, differing opinion, discussion. We all migrate to groups of people that dress like us, think like us, worship like us - I don't buy that it's just because we want to feel "comfortable." We want to feel good. We want to like ourselves. We don't want our outlook or our perspective to be challenged because- it's uncomfortable, and because it means admitting that we are not right. We are wrong. We make stupid judgment calls and dumb choices. Putting our lives under the light of a different view means that some nasty dirt will show up. But if everyone around me has the same dirt - maybe the spotlight will never find it and I can stay comfy and protected by the agreement that I find myself surrounded by.
I shall not just be an echo chamber for my friends' ideas! I shall not use my friends as mirror images! I shall open up, be challenged, stifle my sensitivity, and listen and reflect and be made uncomfortable by the spotlight that reflection insists on shining into the darkest, dirtiest corners of my opinionated brain. So there.
1 comment:
That's why we're friends.
Post a Comment