Is often easier than trying to understand it. To call someone “mad” or “crazy” when their point of view is out of alignment with our own. When something doesn’t fit into my paradigm, the common human reflex is to assume the worst. To assume that there is something far more nefarious and dangerous going on. To jump to the darkest conclusion rather than seek to understand what we do not understand.
It’s easy in the West to scoff at cultures who see demons behind every sneeze or headache or seizure. The truth is that they may not be far off. The other truth is that we fail to see the demons behind our every anxiety or angry outburst or fear of “those people.” In our increasingly polarized and vitriolic society, the demons of our age are preventing us from seeing the true humanity in the other, and we are self-congratulatory for our “standing up for what’s right.”
We demonize what we don’t understand, while remaining blind to the demons we’d rather keep around as pets.
The good news is that Jesus—who, it’s worth noting, was regularly accused of having a demon—came to open the eyes of the blind. To enable us to see the demons for what they really are, and to see our fellow human beings for who they really are.
May we seek to understand those whom we do not understand.
