A Moment of Hesitation
Once again this morning, I was reminded of the wisdom of Richard Rohr that "we don't see things as they are but as we are."
This explains a lot about political opinions, our reactivity to others, and our processing of conflict. We often get in the way of our appropriately assessing life and its challenges. Rohr believes that this is why we need some kind of contemplative practice or what Tom Driver calls "a moment of hesitation." We almost always will react to what we experience, and our reactivity is often fueled by our ego needs. When I experience myself overreacting to someone or what they did or said, I must ask myself: "What's going on here? Why the overreaction?" And often I find that my overreaction is rooted in my own ego needs. I am seeing things not as they are but as I am.