{"id":419,"date":"2020-09-28T21:07:10","date_gmt":"2020-09-29T01:07:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=419"},"modified":"2020-09-28T21:07:10","modified_gmt":"2020-09-29T01:07:10","slug":"the-middle-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/?p=419","title":{"rendered":"The Middle Ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

Knowing how polarities work, the wise leader does not push to make things happen, but allows process to unfold on its own. The leader teaches by example rather than by lecturing others on how they ought to be. The leader knows that constant interventions will block process. The leader does not insist that things come out a certain way.<\/em> (John Heider, Tao of Leadership)<\/p>\n

\"Screen<\/a>Ruth\u2019s seat isn\u2019t yet cold. And the urgency to fill it with a \u2018user friendly\u2019 replacement appears paramount in the Republican fold \u2014 summoning to mind any number of adjectives: expeditious, opportunistic, cynical, hypocritical, partisan. . . the list goes on. As well, prompting comparisons with Obama\u2019s nomination in March 2016 of Merrick Garland to occupy the seat of Antonin Scalia left vacant following the latter\u2019s February 2016 death.<\/p>\n

That same year, with an election looming, the argument was made by none other than Mitch McConnell that \u2018The American people should have a voice in the selection of their next Supreme Court justice. Therefore, this vacancy should not be filled until we have a new president\u2019. Hmm? That was evidently then<\/em>; this<\/em> is now. Adding to the \u2018both sides of his mouth\u2019 phenom\u2019s \u2018fluidity\u2019 is a readiness to use filibuster as a political tactic. At the time (post 2013), the strategy had been disallowed for all circumstances except Supreme Court nominations<\/em>, and was employed to delay Senate consideration of Obama\u2019s nomination. In April 2017, the exemption was eliminated \u2014 as it suited \u2014 to allow appointment of Neil Gorsuch, a Republican choice, to take a seat on the Supreme Court. But then reversals, internal contradictions and inconsistencies, political expediency in 2020 should surprise no one. <\/p>\n

I had occasion to hear two interviews recently with Julia Samuel, a British psychotherapist, as she discussed her new book, This Too Shall Pass<\/em>. A widely acknowledged expert on grieving, this time out she explores coping strategies in times of change, crisis. She reframes some existing concepts \u2014 but in language and context that provide contemporary application. She raises the time-honoured practice of \u2018sitting with\u2019 change, embracing it even. This versus the, again, familiar and knee-jerk responses: fight, flee, freeze \u2014 as dictated by our \u2018lizard brain\u2019. <\/p>\n

In sum, she suggests viewing change as first, inevitable<\/em>, secondly, a protracted process<\/em> best served by adapting (vs. being resisted, \u2018wrestled against\u2019), and thirdly, best seen as (and I love this term) a fertile void<\/em> (a kind of existential opportunity). The task then becomes one of eschewing our inclination for polarizing, entrenching in one extreme or the other, and locating the equanimous, middle ground \u2014 while we adjust. \u2018Using times of crisis and change as space for conversation we\u2019ve perhaps never had<\/em>\u2019, to paraphrase Samuel\u2019s words. She differentiates this posture from the all too common (evolutionary) alternative: remaining \u2018wired for danger, on high alert\u2019, with our emotions mismanaged and impulse control compromised. She quite correctly sees the latter stance as paralyzing to adjustment, adaptation, moving forward. We remain pushed into our respective corners \u2014 fuelled by, \u2018coached\u2019 by those that would promote the immobilizing effects of fear, high anxiety. <\/p>\n

To Amy Coney Barrett. A crass, transparent choice by some accounts. Another calculated \u2018brick\u2019 in the conservative wall, tipping a balance that was precarious at best and only held even by the extraordinary presence of RBG. To be sure, her appointment would bring with it a presumed pro-life, anti-gun control, \u2018originalist\u2019 vote (reference the literal interpretation of a constitution devised in very different times); a vote that would remain active for many years, given her age (48). Equally, she is qualified on a number of stages, academic as well as experiential: first in her class, clerk to the Justice Scalia, circuit court justice, law professor. <\/p>\n

And so we are presented with a change, a crisis some would say: inevitable (apparently), protracted (in place for years to come), and potentially \u2018disastrous\u2019 (with the spectre of the dismantling of much of RBG\u2019s hard-fought gains). There can be little doubt that Barrett and Ginsberg occupy very different \u2018value orbits\u2019 \u2014 as did RBG and Justice Scalia. And perhaps a time to recall some of Ginsberg\u2019s balanced, patient perspective:<\/p>\n

Dissents speak to a future age. It’s not simply to say, \u2018my colleagues are wrong and I would do it this way,\u2019 but the greatest dissents do become court opinions<\/em>.<\/p>\n

and<\/p>\n

When I can\u2019t get the fifth vote for something I think is very important, (I) go on to the next challenge and give it my all. You know that these important issues are not going to go away. They are going to come back again and again. There\u2019ll be another time, another day<\/em>.<\/p>\n

To echo Samuel\u2019s sentiments, this is most certainly a time for conversation, not polarization \u2014 and that is not about the individuals\u2019 particular positions. It is about the respect for the institution, championed by RBG. It is about patience and process \u2014 and a readiness to revisit and not be defeated by a single issue (or a single appointment). A long-established business hiring practice, creative abrasion<\/em>, in fact endorses, encourages dissenting views as a forum for cultivating \u2018best practices\u2019, \u2018best solutions\u2019. <\/p>\n

The villain in the piece may well be our own readiness to entrench, to choose up sides, and to retire to our respective corners. It makes us too vulnerable to the fear-mongers, the \u2018champions of divisiveness\u2019. I\u2019m frankly getting a little tired of the Stephen Colbert\u2019s, the Jimmy Fallon\u2019s, the Seth Meyer\u2019s relentless, obsessive ranting, the New Yorker\u2019s and Post\u2019s lopsided editorializing. How is this any different than DJT\u2019s craven duplicity, shameless pandering?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Knowing how polarities work, the wise leader does not push to make things happen, but allows process to unfold on its own. The leader teaches by example rather than by lecturing others on how they ought to be. The leader knows that constant interventions will block process. The leader does not insist that things come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":420,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/419\/revisions\/420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.davidhowardpsychologist.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}