Both/And

I suspect we would do well to encourage people to grow in understanding the importance of believing in the both/and character of life, not its either/or. For me, it is essential to understand that two things that appear to be opposites can both be true. I will use one example. I personally think we would do well to understand that men and women are very different from each other. (The conservatives want us to realize this.) Whether it is brain function, bodily design, the evolutionary process--I can't say fully. But it does no good to insist that we are the same. Yet, there is great fluidity in the distinction between men and women. (This is something that the progressives want us to see.) Maleness or femaleness does not look like the same thing for every male or female. There are many ways to be male or female. Sadly, the culture has often failed to recognize this. Can we not hold these beliefs in tension? If we did so, we wouldn't have to deny our differences, nor idolize them. Rational thought often has insisted that life is either this or that. For my tastes, we would be much better off if we understood life as being both/and.