you don't know what you don't know

Spiritual resource to share: humility

You don't know what you don't know....and knowing that you don't know what you don't know is key to taking some positive steps forward. It is really all about humility. Let me explain......

This was the main lesson I walked away with after hearing a community talk about white privilege recently. This talk was sponsored by many individuals and groups who are actively working to heal racism in our community. It was a special tribute on Martin Luther King Day. It was a night of compassionate listening and gave us a firm foothold in our community's attempt to alleviate racism.

There were two speakers who presented. The two speakers had markedly different messages which blended wonderfully under the heading of: "White Privilege: and how it affects the relationship between Indian and non-Indian communities." The first part of the talk was given by Dr. Peggy McIntosh of Wellesley College. She highlighted patterns of assumptions that are made that favor the white race over other races. The other part of the talk was given by the Honorable Ernie St. Germaine of Lac du Flambeau (our local reservation) and highlighted the fullness and completeness of life as taught by the Annishinabeg (aka Ojibwe).

In two different ways the talk showed the universal humanity of us all and the rich diversity of all that we are. It didn't absorb us all into one united blob, but heightened what is different and awakened thought to accept differences, not from a sense of moral superiority or inferiority, but from the basis of the completeness of each culture, of each person.

It led me to think of the differences of culture in two distinct ways: 1) culture as personality - stemming from the psychological and historical man - thus limited and 2) culture as individuality - stemming from a collective expresssion of Godlike qualities of abundance, care, love, protection, provision.

When we see culture as a set of mortal opinions, limited power, etc., there is conflict.
When we see culture in a spiritual view, we see a collective expression of the Christlike attributes of love, protection, harmony and progress, there is harmony and improvement.

I am in awe of this process of healing in a community. As a group, we are taking deliberate steps out of a limited view of race relations where there has been conflict and anger, to a compassionate opening to understand and embrace the different facets of our community. It is all heading toward healing, speeding along by our collective desire for peace and respect for one another.

Healing happens. Humility is the genius of healing in Christian Science*. We don't always know what we don't know, but we can continue to look to God - the omnipotent, the omnipresent, and all-loving - and we can expect to be shown the way to healing for ourselves and for health and well-being for our communities.

To share your thoughts on this or to explore this idea further, please feel free to be in contact with me, add your own comments below, email this article to a friend, or add to the healing finds and sites on the web to the right.

*See Miscellaneous Writings by Mary Baker Eddy, p. 356