Two Insights that Relate to Racial Justice
Posted by Monica Mueller, Insight Alliance Teacher, July 24, 2020
I am a philosophy professor and I have spent over 20 years studying the history of thought. It is rather humorous that the insights that I have gained through the “Insight to Wellbeing” course that I help to facilitate with Anna at Columbia River Correctional Institute, frequently amount to the advice to not overthink things. One clear example is the realization to not take things so personally. I tend to be a very sensitive person, likely because I have been trained to thoroughly analyze situations for the sake of solving problems. This training is, of course, not unique to philosophy education. It is part of our educational system and generally is a very helpful skill to have. One negative consequence of practicing this skill is what has been coined “analysis paralysis.” I know analysis paralysis well and have spent far too many precious hours mulling over little things like what to say in an email. I even experienced it when asked to write something for this blog. I found myself overthinking about what to write and not writing anything at all for weeks. It is comical really; I can stop myself from acting because of the fear that I won’t do something well. I end up not doing anything at all, and probably miss out on a lot of opportunities to learn and expand.
Another unintended consequence is that I frequently expect others to be on the same page as me; to essentially see things the way that I do. I am not sure why I would expect that, as everyone comes to the moment with a myriad of past experiences and understandings that shape the way they read a situation. When I realized that my thinking habits and moods dramatically shift the way that I encounter any given situation, I began to see that this is the case for others as well. It is incredibly unlikely, if not impossible, that anyone else can see the same situation in the same way as I do. I suppose I have always believed this simple truth; it is why I believe that clear communication is critical for interpersonal engagement. But here’s the thing that makes this insight liberating: if I know everyone is coming to the situation with their own set of thoughts, beliefs, moods, and perceptions, then any resistance I encounter is the result of my thinking, and their thinking is necessarily different. I don’t have to take it personally. I can instead let the resistance drop and learn about the state of the other person’s mind and relate to whatever shows up in the moment. This is easier when I have a settled, clear, and present mind. Even if I am being personally criticized, it is likely that there is something that I need to learn to see differently. If I don’t take it personally, but instead see this moment as an opportunity to understand, things tend to go better. This is just about learning. I learn better when I am open with wonder and curiosity, and not defensive. I think we probably all do.
These two insights, that overthinking prevents me from engaging with others and the world, and that I can learn from others when I don’t take things personally, are refreshing and helpful. These insights help me when thinking about how to relate in contemporary discourses prompted by persons of color, for example, who are exposing the countless ways that systems marginalize them. As a white person, I have in the past gotten defensive when someone calls me out on my implicit bias or my naïve disregard for their experience. Defensiveness in these instances inevitably stops us from collaborating toward a more just future. Worse still, defensiveness tends to re-center the discussion back to my feelings of insecurity or guilt, which constitutes a further disregard. With these two insights, I can be called out for my failure and instead of reacting and shutting down, I can open up, listen to the criticism, learn from it, genuinely apologize, and continue to collaborate towards justice. In my opinion this has enormous social and political potential because as far as I can tell, actually listening, learning, and responding with action is precisely what is being asked--and rightfully demanded--of us.
Monica is a curious human being with far too many interests to list. Aside from helping deliver programs for the Insight Alliance, she also teaches philosophy at Portland State University. She got involved with The Insight Alliance because she thinks prisons generate problems and rarely offer solutions. The “Insight to Wellbeing” courses offered through The Insight Alliance are transformative and radical. “It is liberating to remember we don’t need to believe and react to everything we think.”