More Thoughts On "I Could Be Wrong"

I posted this quick idea on Facebook the other day and it’s been passed around a few times and viewed over 1,000 times and so I guess that means it struck a chord.

Here’s what I wrote …

“I COULD BE WRONG: these are the most important words a person of faith can hold, I think. 

Why?

Because keeping this phrase bubbling on the back burner of our minds is what can protect us from becoming fundamentalists on either side (conservative or progressive) and focus our attention not on being right, but on being people of love and grace and inclusion.”

Fundamentalists on either side is an important phrase because often times people who identify themselves as “progressive” or “forward thinking” are people who migrated out of the conservative / fundamentalist / evangelical world.

People who (now) think of themselves as …

More loving.

More grace filled.

More inclusive.

More open.

… than they ever were before.

That’s wonderful and all well and good, but if we’re not careful a problem can sneak in and disrupt the loving and inclusive world we’re trying to build, and the problem is this: we can just as easily (often times unconsciously) become progressive fundamentalists in order to fill the void of the conservative fundamentalists we used to be.

In other words, the things we used to FIGHT against we can now just as easily FIGHT for using the same intensity, the same kind of verbiage, the same kind of speech, the same kind of … hatred that we used to have.

I see it on Facebook all the time. And I often need to guard myself against it, as well. You’ve seen it happen, I’m sure - a discussion breaks out, both sides get heated, and before you know it there’s …

Name calling.

Shaming.

Judgement.

Ridicule.

… coming from both the conservative and progressive side of the issue.

Right?

Lines are drawn.

Walls are built.

Dichotomies are defined.

People take sides.

And now the lines that our forward-thinking hearts set out to erase have been redrawn with the only difference being that we’re standing on the other side of the line yelling all the same sorts of things we used to yell from the other side.

Sigh.

And so I’ve been trying to make this simple statement my mantra - “I could be wrong.”

I could be wrong.

I could be wrong.

I could be wrong.

I could be wrong.

I could be wrong.

Contrary to what my fundamentalist friends might think, it’s not a laziness whereby I’m not willing to put in the work to become more “certain” of my faith. Nor does the mantra stem from a desire to be neutral and not take sides.

RATHER.

It stems from a place that has been developing in me for the last year or so, a place that is willing to bow my head and drop to my knees at the feet of the Divine and admit to myself and the world around me that I don’t have God all figured out (and never will).

Heck.

On a good day I can barely function without a decent cup of coffee much less declare that I have God all figured out.

And so “I could be wrong” is an admittance that God is bigger than I am. He is greater than I am. She is more mysterious than I ever imaged. They are more powerful and strong and wise than I could ever know. And no matter how much I study or think I know, Spirit will always show me that there’s another layer.

This is the only way to guard against re-becoming a fundamentalist, I think - to keep my lack of knowledge at the forefront of my mind and always be on the looking for the next layer of understanding that’s getting ready to be peeled back.

Yeah.

And I guess it’s when the layers stop peeling and I think that I’ve reached the core or the end … that’s when fundamentalism is creeping around the corner.

“I could be wrong” - let’s make it our mantra today.

Much love to you,