{"id":31759,"date":"2023-03-10T09:15:55","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T17:15:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31759"},"modified":"2023-03-13T08:12:02","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T15:12:02","slug":"hear-me-out-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/hear-me-out-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Frogs in a Well"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a Chinese fable by Zhuangzi that I grew up hearing about a frog who lives in the bottom of a deep and narrow well. As other animals come and tell him about the world outside, the frog scoffs at them and knows in his heart that the well is the entire world, there could not possibly be more outside. \u201cYou can\u2019t discuss the ocean with a well frog \u2013 he\u2019s limited by the space he lives in. You can\u2019t discuss ice with a summer insect \u2013 he\u2019s bound to a single season\u2026\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

In the book, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias<\/em>, Pragya Agarwal touches on a similar idea by telling stories that show some of the unconscious biases that present in the world while explaining them using scientific theories and research. More so, the book tackles why understanding what we think and why we think it is important as it influences all that we say and do as well as how we see the world around us. Early in the book, Agarwal begins with a quote from Leo Tolstoy:<\/p>\n

\u201cThat most men \u2013 not only those considered clever, but even those who are very clever, and capable of understanding most difficult scientific, mathematical, or philosophic problems \u2013 can very seldom discern even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as to oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions they have formed, perhaps with much difficulty- conclusions of which they are proud, which they have taught to others, and on which they have built their lives.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

The author hits on an important truth here. Unconscious biases aren\u2019t dangerous in and of themselves. Agarwal goes to great lengths to explain that they are natural, evolutionary aspects even.[3]<\/a>\u00a0Contrarily, they can be helpful. The book references Atul Gawande in talking about doctors using \u201cmedical intuition\/instinct\u201d. Instinct, being the \u201cresult of an accumulated knowledge\u2026 so its value cannot be discounted, especially when making quick decisions.\u201d[4]<\/a>\u00a0Agarwal goes on in the same thought to say that these instincts are also influenced by our biases and prejudices so they aren\u2019t perfect by any means. The amount of negative influence that implicit biases manifest is directly tied to how much we are willing to acknowledge their existence and how humble we are to accept that how we perceive the world might not be all there is.<\/p>\n

There is also a trickle-down effect. Biases not only affect our personal interactions, they are also built into systems.[5]<\/a>\u00a0Who these systems serve tend to be reflected in who builds them. So how are our theological systems being built? Who might be shaping what theological world pastors in the US see? Among the schools represented for the Association of Theological Schools, it was interesting to find that nearly 69% of all faculty were white in 2022.[6]<\/a> When only considering professors (taking out associate and assistant professors), that number goes up to 77%.[7]<\/a>\u00a0What\u2019s more is that while the ATS has \u201ccultural context\u201d as one of its four main learning objectives for a Master of Divinity degree, an ATS accredited school in Portland has only 2 credits out of 82 dedicated to \u201ccultural context\u201d. It\u2019s not enough. There is simply not a broad enough set of voices, experiences, and cultures that are building our theological educational systems.<\/p>\n

So what can we do? I think it begins simply by recognizing we all, to some degree, are frogs in a well. We look around and think the walls of the well are all we know, and that the small patch of blue above us is simply the top of the well, not just a miniscule fraction of the sky. In their book, Tell Me Who You Are: Sharing our Stories of Race, Culture, and Identity, <\/em>Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi remind us that:<\/p>\n

\u201cAny person who is part of a community can help ensure that the voices within that community are heard. We can prevent some of our racial pain before it seeps into our younger generations. We can heal the communities we are already part of so they are defined not by division but by hope and harmony, by love and equity.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

The path forward, I believe (and as Guo and Vulchi believe), lies simply in listening to the stories of others and elevating voices that have not been heard. We must let these stories inform us, change us, and build the systems that our churches and our society stand on.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi: Basic Writings. <\/em>Translations From the Asian Classics. (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003), 98.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Pragya Agarwal, Sway: Unravelling Unconscious Bias<\/em> (London, England: Zed Books, 2021), 13.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid, 50<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid, 41<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid, 368<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> \u201cAnnual Data Tables,\u201d Association of Theological Schools, 2022, https:\/\/www.ats.edu\/files\/galleries\/2022-2023_Annual_Data_Tables.pdf<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Association of Theological Schools, \u201cAnnual Data Tables\u201d<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Winona Guo and Priya Vulchi, Tell Me Who You Are : Sharing Our Stories of Race, Culture, and Identity<\/em> (New York: TarcherPerigee, 2019), 8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a Chinese fable by Zhuangzi that I grew up hearing about a frog who lives in the bottom of a deep and narrow well. As other animals come and tell him about the world outside, the frog scoffs at them and knows in his heart that the well is the entire world, there […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2689],"class_list":["post-31759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-agarwal-dlgp01","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31759"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31801,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31759\/revisions\/31801"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}