{"id":817,"date":"2021-06-24T08:46:35","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T12:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=817"},"modified":"2021-06-24T08:46:35","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T12:46:35","slug":"a-new-way-of-seeing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2021\/06\/24\/a-new-way-of-seeing\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Way of Seeing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 1954, psychologist Muzafer Sherif and his colleagues conducted what is now regarded as one of the most famous experiments concerning the origin and nature of conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The researchers invited two dozen boys to a special summer camp at Robbers Cave State Park in Oklahoma.\u00a0 The boys, who were\u00a011 or 12 years old, were randomly assigned in advance to one of two groups.\u00a0 Sherif encouraged the groups to build a sense of togetherness and to create their own identity.\u00a0 One named itself the Rattlers.\u00a0 The other called itself the Eagles.
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The groups camped at different sites.\u00a0 For the first few days, neither knew that the other even existed.\u00a0
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The camp staff ultimately brought the Eagles and Rattlers together.\u00a0 They announced a series of contests.\u00a0 The boys would compete for prizes and trophies.\u00a0
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What happened next is still being analyzed almost seven decades later.\u00a0
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The boys enthusiastically dedicated themselves to their own groups and began to direct something like hatred toward their rivals. \u00a0As the competitions became fiercer, winning became increasingly more important.\u00a0 There was name-calling, trash-talking, and in-your-face gloating.\u00a0 The Eagles and Rattlers vandalized each other\u2019s campsites.\u00a0 Fistfights broke out.\u00a0
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An Us vs. Them mentality overshadowed even the smallest details of camp life.\u00a0
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Sherif later wrote, \u201cWhen two groups have conflicting aims\u2026their members will become hostile to each other even though the groups are composed of normal, well-adjusted individuals.\u201d
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In other words, it matters that I identify with particular groups.\u00a0 \u00a0
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When I identify myself as a member of the such-and-such group, and you\u2019re not part of it, there is a high probability we will misunderstand each other.\u00a0 And probably feel some degree of tension.
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Consider for a moment that those boys didn\u2019t have to see each other as rivals.\u00a0 They could have looked for solidarity based on common ground.\u00a0 They could have said, \u201cHey, we\u2019re all boys.\u00a0 And we\u2019re all about the same age.\u00a0 And we\u2019re all from Oklahoma.\u201d\u00a0 But none of those identities was as important as being a Rattler or an Eagle \u2013 random groups to which they had been randomly assigned only a few weeks earlier.\u00a0
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Yes, the experimenters had prodded the boys into creating and clinging to new identities.\u00a0 But it didn\u2019t take much to make that happen \u2013 nor for the boys to start visualizing the Other Group as the most sorry collection of human rubbish on the planet.\u00a0
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Just in case we think this only applies to other people, we need to think again.\u00a0
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There are an amazing number of ways we can see ourselves in contrast to other people.\u00a0 The identities we choose will make all the difference in the world.
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In my home state of Indiana, there\u2019s a playful Us vs. Them mentality that separates fans of Indiana University and their archrivals at Purdue.\u00a0 I say \u201cplayful\u201d because the emotional stakes are considerably higher for the fan bases of Florida vs. Georgia, Alabama vs. Auburn, Texas vs, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame vs. everyone else.\u00a0 \u00a0
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We could say, \u201cHey, we have so much in common.\u00a0 We all love football.\u201d\u00a0 But it\u2019s more typical for rabid fans to \u201cside-up.\u201d\u00a0 And siding-up tends to generate deep emotions.
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People typically distinguish themselves from others through identities of race, class, generation, and upbringing.\u00a0 But nothing is fiercer in the present moment than the seemingly unbridgeable chasm between political affiliations.\u00a0

It\u2019s the Right vs. the Left.\u00a0 Conservatives vs. Liberals.\u00a0 In their book Prius or Pick-up?,<\/em> which explores the clash of these American subcultures, Marc Hetherington\u00a0and Jonathan Weiler\u00a0describe those who are Fixed (traditionalists who are averse to disruptive change) and those who are\u00a0Fluid (progressives who welcome the re-invention of society).\u00a0
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The two sides stare at each other.\u00a0 Each is tempted to believe the Other is the Enemy.\u00a0 \u201cI love this country, but you clearly don\u2019t.\u00a0 If you get your way, everything of value will be up for grabs.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s the Rattlers vs. the Eagles all over again.\u00a0
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As long as Americans gravitate to one of these identities, there will be tension and turbulence \u2013 and little chance of reconciliation.\u00a0 \u00a0
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But these aren\u2019t the only identities on the market.\u00a0 These aren\u2019t the only lenses through which we can choose to see the world.
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When I look at you, I don\u2019t have to see someone whose next vote will probably cancel out mine.\u00a0 I can see you as a brother or sister in Christ.\u00a0 I can see you as someone who is struggling through life facing all the same problems that I have to face.\u00a0 More than anything \u2013 regardless of your race, creed, or religious affiliation \u2013 I can look at you as someone who is made in the image of God.\u00a0 Just as I am.
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In first century Jerusalem, Us vs. Them wasn\u2019t just a mentality.\u00a0 It was a wall that separated the Court of the Gentiles from the primary Jewish temple.\u00a0 Ancient sources tell us that there were 13 stone slabs, engraved in both Latin and Greek, that warned non-Jews not to cross that barrier.\u00a0 Archeologists have uncovered two of the slabs.\u00a0 Each of them reads: \u201cNo foreigner is allowed to enter within the balustrade surrounding the sanctuary and the court enclosed.\u00a0 Whoever is caught will be personally responsible for his ensuing death.\u201d
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If you scale that wall, you die.\u00a0
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The breaking news of the New Testament is that there\u2019s now a new temple \u2013 a new place to meet God.\u00a0 It\u2019s the person of Jesus.\u00a0 And there\u2019s no longer a barrier keeping some people in and other people out. \u00a0Because Jesus has died, the old wall is gone forever.\u00a0
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Here\u2019s how the apostle Paul shares that news:
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\u201cThe Messiah has made things up between us so that we\u2019re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.\u201d <\/em>(Ephesians 2:13-14, \u201cThe Message\u201d)
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Because of what Jesus has done, we can choose to see each other differently.\u00a0 We\u2019re not genetically encoded to remain stuck in our old identities.\u00a0
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It won\u2019t be easy.\u00a0 We’ll have to work hard\u00a0because changes this big don\u2019t happen automatically.\u00a0 We’ll quickly discover that seeing each other with gracious eyes is a choice that goes against the grain of almost everything we experience in our polarized culture.
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But all the resources of heaven are on our side. \u00a0\u00a0
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And just working hard to think differently is a powerful sign that we care.
\u00a0
Meanwhile, what happened to those two dozen boys at Robbers Cave State Park?
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Before their summer camp experience came to an end, the researchers created opportunities for the Eagles and Rattlers to work together.\u00a0 They worked toward restoring the camp\u2019s disrupted water supply, and helped pull a disabled truck.\u00a0 When it was time to go home, some of the boys insisted that both groups ride in the same bus.\u00a0 And one group bought drinks for their former rivals as a gesture of friendship.
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We can find each other, too.\u00a0 It will happen as we work\u00a0side by side\u00a0on the problems of a very big world.\u00a0
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And who knows?\u00a0 We might just discover it\u2019s a joy to end up on the same bus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 1954, psychologist Muzafer Sherif and his colleagues conducted what is now regarded as one of the most famous experiments concerning the origin and nature of conflict. The researchers invited two dozen boys to a special summer camp at Robbers Cave State Park in Oklahoma.\u00a0 The boys, who were\u00a011 or 12 years old, were randomly assigned in advance to one… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[263,264],"class_list":["post-817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-identities","tag-political-polarization"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":819,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/817\/revisions\/819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}