I’ve spent the morning working whilst listening to Mozart symphonies – in numerical order of course! I feel relaxed.
Oh so different to the last few weeks which have been punctuated by political podcasts, and by repeatedly refreshing my podcast feed to make sure I’m up to date.
Why? I support a football team, but am perfectly able to live without the need to click every available link to a confected rumour or potential news story. And, although my team is winning a lot at present, I’m able to maintain some kind of perspective. Winning and losing is not the end of the world.
But an election in a country I’ve never even lived in has kept me from the soothing delights of Mozart. Why?
*
When I was a child and someone came to visit us I’d be called in to say hello and would then go back to playing or reading. Visiting a household which includes children today is so often an experience which is entirely dominated by the antics or wishes of the youngest occupants of the room.
There is much to be said for this. Children are no longer seen and not heard, but are encouraged to socialise, to express themselves and find their voice.
But when that ‘child’ is a fully grown adult who has never learned that the world around them does not exist for the sole benefit of their gratification, something is very wrong. And, because this ‘child’ is the former President of the world’s most powerful country, every petulant outburst is deemed to be newsworthy, even if it is not news.
I’ve been so addicted to my political podcasts because I so desperately want this ‘child’ to lose, and be forced to learn that winning and losing is not the end of the world. And for those countless business-people, women and ‘small’ people who have had to face loss in order for him to be seen to win to find some kind of relief from their pain.
*
Looking back on the last few weeks has reinforced what I’ve learned over the years about the way humans are driven by biases we are often so unaware of. We are just hours from knowing who the next President is going to be, yet I can still click on stories which tell me why each of the candidates (take your pick) is going to win by 5 points. Data (just like Humpty Dumpty’s ‘words’) can mean whatever we want it to mean, and I presume these supposed stories are still being published because there are enough people in the world still looking to read the opinions of others who think like them.
We live in complex times, but our urges are rarely very complex at all. When Jesus urged his disciples not to take everything they saw at face value,*1 but to think deeply and discern the meaning behind what they could see, he was warning them not to jump onto bandwagons or take anything at face value. In modern parlance, this surely entails being aware of our biases, and the feelings that reinforce them.*2
Tomorrow we may know who won the election. But it may be a lot longer before we know what it means, or where history is heading.
*1 Matthew 24&25
*2 I recommend the first series of Brian McLaren’s podcast: Learning How To See.
