The Lateral Shift Trap
some thoughts on lateral versus progressive change
The problem with any attempt to label or systematize a nondual, grace-centered, or “progressive” approach is that the new system ends up entrenched with its own legalisms and prejudices. And the relationship between the severity of these biases is probably directly proportional to the group’s assumption that they are not susceptible to such fundamentalism.
Barring a radical shift due to great loss or great love, many move along a line that is often poorly defined: liberal versus conservative, progressive versus fundamentalist, etc.
What is liberal to one may be conservative to another.
Yet in “moving beyond” this dualistic way of thinking, which may not be altogether possible but certainly noble, there is a temptation to say, “Ah, but we’re beyond all that now” creating a new dualism.
This is what I tried to explain to a dear friend as I wrestled with where I’m at on the ideological spectrum.
My problem was that I found some of the “liberal” or “progressive” thinkers, which I was accused of being, just as toxic, fundamentalist, and legalistic as more conservative expressions of the faith within my own tradition.
It was the monster with a different mask.
In this podcast, I talk about this conversation, talk about my own experience navigating it, and offer some helpful suggestions from Wendell Berry on how we might avoid settling in one of these “territories.”
Note: I intentionally put some of these terms in quotation marks because, while they can be defined, they often mean different things to different people.
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