I’m not really a podcast person, but after one episode of “Learning How to See,” I feel like my vision (and my ears) are improved. Each week, host Brian McLaren shares two types of biases and discusses them with two of my favorite teachers on the planet, Richard Rohr and Jacqui Lewis.
Bias - a prejudice or pre-critical inclination in favor of or against something. A pattern of distortion in our ability to see what’s there.
Not only have I been thinking about what they said for 24 hours, I’ve also been catching myself in the act of being biased. All three are people of faith, but they’ve made sure that this is a conversation for everyone. So I’m going to launch a mid-week thread and share one bias per week (there are 13 total) and encourage us all to discuss and reflect and hopefully catch ourselves in the act.
The first bias is the one I’m most familiar with. I’ll start the comments with my own confession and I hope you’ll join in!
Confirmation - the human brain welcomes information that confirms what it already thinks and resists information that disturbs or contradicts what it already knows.
*”Whatever is received is received according to the manner of the receiver.” We receive things not as they are but as we are.
Thanks for sharing this. Marvin has been very involved with our church and teaching the "Be the Bridge" material in several rounds of classes now. The group and been talking a lot about bias the last week or two. I will be interested in listening to these podcasts and sharing them. It's so true that we all have bias and don't even realize it or think about it.
I have become incredibly biased against Republicans and Trumpers in particular. Now, I feel 100% certain I’m right and they deserve all the hate and vitriol I feel, but I’m a tad bit concerned about my blind allegiance to this bias ... I plan to work on this after the shitshow elections. 😬
Looking over my life I can see an embarrassing plethora of examples of confirmation bias, many of which I'm so thankful to have shed. One old one was my view of God as a punitive distributor of retribution. Whatever failings I had were to be scrubbed away like stained clothing and hopefully hidden from sight. Now I see God as a force field of love and invitation, a repository of wisdom and kindness, the parents we wish we had and could have been. It breaks my heart that I didn't know that sooner, especially as a parent. My current wrestling with confirmation bias is happening (no surprises here) in the political field. I am inclined to disbelieve anything I hear from the right. Slowing down to look at the facts and my own heart, enables me to see clearly.
I just keep reading this definition over and over and realize I didn't describe exactly how the bias worked. If God was angry, then I was always looking for folks who were "doing it wrong" to get punished (confirming what I already thought). Seeing people live their lives in freedom, committing what I'd been taught were sins and NOT getting punished DID disturb my brain, but was actually one of the things that enabled me to start asking questions and get myself free as well. As for politics, this morning I saw a headline in The Telegraph praising the President and I was like, NOPE, and then caught myself and read the whole thing. While I disagreed with most of it, I forced myself to open up and consider every point, at least in a way that I could hear what the writer was trying to say.
That statement is probably very truthful. Love, caring and kindness appear to be absent and in their place, hatred and violence seem to be okay with many.
Thanks for sharing this. Marvin has been very involved with our church and teaching the "Be the Bridge" material in several rounds of classes now. The group and been talking a lot about bias the last week or two. I will be interested in listening to these podcasts and sharing them. It's so true that we all have bias and don't even realize it or think about it.
I think you will love this podcast, Susan.
I have become incredibly biased against Republicans and Trumpers in particular. Now, I feel 100% certain I’m right and they deserve all the hate and vitriol I feel, but I’m a tad bit concerned about my blind allegiance to this bias ... I plan to work on this after the shitshow elections. 😬
Looking over my life I can see an embarrassing plethora of examples of confirmation bias, many of which I'm so thankful to have shed. One old one was my view of God as a punitive distributor of retribution. Whatever failings I had were to be scrubbed away like stained clothing and hopefully hidden from sight. Now I see God as a force field of love and invitation, a repository of wisdom and kindness, the parents we wish we had and could have been. It breaks my heart that I didn't know that sooner, especially as a parent. My current wrestling with confirmation bias is happening (no surprises here) in the political field. I am inclined to disbelieve anything I hear from the right. Slowing down to look at the facts and my own heart, enables me to see clearly.
I just keep reading this definition over and over and realize I didn't describe exactly how the bias worked. If God was angry, then I was always looking for folks who were "doing it wrong" to get punished (confirming what I already thought). Seeing people live their lives in freedom, committing what I'd been taught were sins and NOT getting punished DID disturb my brain, but was actually one of the things that enabled me to start asking questions and get myself free as well. As for politics, this morning I saw a headline in The Telegraph praising the President and I was like, NOPE, and then caught myself and read the whole thing. While I disagreed with most of it, I forced myself to open up and consider every point, at least in a way that I could hear what the writer was trying to say.
That statement is probably very truthful. Love, caring and kindness appear to be absent and in their place, hatred and violence seem to be okay with many.