Am Blind, But Think I See

I just finished reading Being Wrong: Adventures in the Margin of Error by Kathryn Schulz, a perplexing book.

It's not an easy read, by any means. If you don't remember the name Leon Festiger and congnitive dissonance from social psychology, this book will remind you about them.  I read the book because of the difficulty we have forgiving others, in large part because we believe we are simply always right. In fact, our language, Schulz argues, allows only for the possibilty that we were wrong in the past, but not the present, "I was wrong" makes sense, but not "I am wrong."

More on the entire book later, but it contains a fascinating description of a condition called Anton's Syndrome, in which persons who are (cortically) blind, think they can see and will make things up, even contradict sighted persons with their perceptions. They are blind, but don't know it.

It's startling because I think this is the condition of modern society. We are not blind Bartimeus crying out for help by the roadside asking to see, we are all convinced we see just fine, thank you.

I hope you love the hymn, Amazing Grace as much as I do. It's contemporary revision to exclude the word "wretch" to appease modern senisbilities doesn't quite go far enough for some. How about this revision:

I once was wrong, but now I'm right

Am blind, but think I see.

Let us pray for the wisdom to see thing aright, and the humility to admit our fallibility.