How do you know who you would have been, who you could have been, in a different life? And think about your life now: What have you done? Who are you now? And who could you be next year?
I always find these questions to be deeply humbling and fascinating to reflect on. More often than not, I have discovered that as we reflect on history, we find it easy to determine right from wrong and condemn those who came before us. In retrospect, it seems so blatantly obvious what they should have been doing in place of what they were doing. Of course, everyone would like to think they would have never been a supporter of Hitler, but the reality is he had many supporters.
I know, it seems extreme to think about, but people worked for him and believed in his worldview… So how can you or I be so sure we would not have been one of them? Can we be certain we would have seen beyond the propaganda? Would we have remained silent and looked the other way until we became his next target? Or even more frightening to ponder—could we have been working for him, helping spread his worldview?
When we interpret the past through retrospective morality, we simultaneously view ourselves in a higher moral posture, somehow immune to ever living or thinking the same way as our ancestors who came before us. It is easy to judge right and wrong as we peer from the outside—we assume we would have lived in the way we deem right from our perspective today as if outside voices and propaganda would have never influenced us.
For a present-day example, many countries worldwide agree that Russia’s invasion and the war on Ukraine are unequivocally wrong. It is hard to understand how people in Russia could support Putin and be so willing to murder their neighbors. We do not think we could ever be capable of such a thing. Yet again, many people do support him and feel like they are doing the “right” thing. If you or I were born and raised in Russia, would we support Putin? Surely, I would like to think not. But in reality, our access to information about the world and life itself would be significantly limited compared to what we have access to in the United States, for example. Would we be able to see through the manipulation and lies? Like Germany and the Holocaust, people are inundated with propaganda and ideologies that greatly influence their perception of the world and their country.
The possible manifestations that lay within the human spirit are manifold—we see this in history and around the world in present time. How can we all be sure that today we are not buying into beliefs and ideologies that cause more harm than good to humanity—to our fellow brothers and sisters? What are our best defenses against all possibilities that live within the human spirit?
Jordan Peterson writes: “The sovereign individual, awake and attending to his or her conscience, is the force that prevents the group, as the necessary structure guiding normative social relations, from becoming blind and deadly.” In this case, no one else can be the scapegoat. Rather individuals, both you and me, are intimately responsible for our internal landscapes and everything we choose to spread into the world around us. Although we did not have a say in the beliefs our families and societies imprinted upon us throughout childhood and adolescence, we all reach a point in our lives where how we live, and the things we believe are entirely our choice. Are we all tending to our inner conscience, keeping watch for destructive ideas and group dynamics that hinder our collective existence?
Radical curiosity is our best defense against the possibilities that live within the human spirit. Curiosity that guides us to ponder why we are the way we are and why others are the way they are. Curiosity that creates space to intentionally engage with people we could not feel more different from. After all, how do you know who you would have been, who you could have been, in a different life? Today, how can you be so sure that you do not become extremist in an ideology, becoming blind to the fact that you are causing greater harm than good solely because you believe you are doing the “right” thing? And how can we be so naive as not to ask ourselves these very questions?
We must transcend the “us vs. them” trap and discover the humanity that connects us all. From you to me, from the political left to the right, from one country to the next… The Way forward is together.
And just in case I haven’t asked enough questions, I will leave you with two more: Generations from now, what will be said of us and our current created world? What will they so clearly see that we are all blind to now?
