Changing Mindsets > Changing Minds
True Open-Mindedness Is Much Deeper Than Different Opinions
Jesus preaches and models what it means to be a good neighbor. He is also frequently considered a bad citizen. There is no escaping this tension. Being a good neighbor requires a different mindset and value system than being a good citizen. They often conflict.
Almost exactly one year ago, those words were among the first ones I typed when I began writing my book, Good Neighbor, Bad Citizen (Amazon, B&N, Lulu).
And I used the word “mindset.”
Changing your mind usually refers to having a different opinion than previously. But changing your mindset involves adjusting the framework within which you process information. It’s the difference between what you think and how you think.
I wanted my book — and later, this Substack — to address the “how you think” aspect.
I knew enough about the history, culture and context to discuss the persecution of Jesus, as recorded in the four Gospels of the Bible. But it would still be a rigorous book to write, and likely a challenging book to read. It would test a person’s curiosity to delve into both contra-government themes and an historically provocative religious tradition.
For people approaching the book from a freedom-advocacy perspective, though not steeped in Christian tradition, the challenge would be to consider the real history, context, and culture of Jesus and His Gospel. This means taking it seriously, without thinking it quaint, archaic, and good only for malleable metaphors.
For those who identify as Christian — probably an Overton Window dweller in Western society — the challenge would be to embrace something sharper and deeper than the dull, shallow “Christianity” of pop culture and even most Christian congregations. This means confronting the false belief that genuine Christianity always harmonizes with the mainstream, so-called “Christian” culture of the West.
Those not sure where they fit among the anarchist/voluntarist or traditionally religious perspectives would still have the challenge of a learning curve, even without prejudices to overcome.
I would be asking any reader to be reasonably open-minded.
Examining the ‘goods’
Right after the above excerpt, I expanded on the neighbor-citizen contrast in mindset:
Good neighbors treat each other as peers. Good citizens treat each other according to official status.
Good neighbors seek the personal, intimate betterment of themselves and each other. Good citizens seek the external validation of an impersonal system.
Good neighbors align to voluntary, open-ended interactions. Good citizens align to coercive civil authority and imposed, hierarchical social order.
Good neighbors “insource” their ethics; charity and friendship are the key virtues of their relationships. Good citizens “outsource” their ethics; compliance with the commands of rulers and enforcers is a fundamental and necessary aspect (some might call it a “civic virtue”).
Good neighbors consent. Good citizens conform.
Jesus steadfastly chooses to be a good neighbor, especially when faced with the direct brutality of the coercive civil authorities — both Roman and Israelite — and knowing all it would cost Him.
After exploring three key passages from the Gospels, I invited the reader to look inward. I warned:
Maybe Good Neighbor, Bad Citizen will be of some small assistance in asking some admittedly difficult, challenging, deep questions of yourself. Maybe it will present you with confrontations you’d rather not consider, and with dichotomies you wish weren’t so. Maybe it won’t be a pleasant read, a “nice” meditation, for you.
This focus on open-mindedly investigating our own beliefs continued when I launched this Substack. My first three articles …
… each sought to make sense of foundational terms and concepts that are too often ambiguous (or worse!) in popular culture.
Irreconcilable differences
Refusing to compromise on the matter of human dignity, will often clash with the psychological path of least resistance and other cognitive corner-cutting.
Anarchists/voluntarists know this exercise well! Our aversion to coercive civil authority, to monopoly-violence institutions, to imposed hierarchical social order, is virtuous when rooted in positive principles about the innate worth of each person.
Consistently living these ethics of anarchism/voluntarism requires attention and effort. And so does Christian discipleship.
Jesus pointedly preaches about the need for new structures of understanding, within which people can flourish. My favorite image He uses involves wine and wineskins:
People do not put new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise the skins burst, the wine spills out, and the skins are ruined. Rather, they pour new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved.
— Matthew 9:17; parallels in Mark 2:22 & Luke 5:37-38
What Jesus models and teaches doesn’t fit neatly into the existing mindsets of His audience. Jesus aims to change how people process the world, because this “new wineskin” is necessary to deal with the new substance He reveals to them. Jesus offers no compromise with those who would hyperrationally cling to unsuitable mental and spiritual containers, no matter how prevalent those “old wineskins” are in their society.
Unwavering commitment to human dignity is an extreme position, but it beckons no moderation to some false-virtuous “middle ground.” What it beckons, is for individuals to improve their mindsets, not merely to change their minds.
Express your mind — & mindset — in the Comments!
The past year of writing for me, from concretizing a short book to generating ideas for 44 weekly articles, has been an exercise in refining how I formulate and express my thoughts.
How about for you? Do you find that this Substack challenges popular thinking about topics? If you’ve also read my book, did the book prompt you to consider “some admittedly difficult, challenging, deep questions”?
Do you distinguish between altering opinions and altering processes that can lead to opinions?
How do you like your wine? (not a trick question, not a metaphor … I’m asking about, literally, wine!)
Anything else interest you about this article’s topics?
Share your thoughts below …
Domenic,
It was good to see you last night.
Thanks for sending this. You write crisply and your message is challenging.
Do you have any specific advice about how to talk to those who supported the lockdowns and shots? It's too late to matter. I just wonder about ways that I might have been more effective.