I have lived a large portion of my life in an echo chamber. Even once I was old enough to make my own decisions, I was more comfortable staying in the echo chamber than venturing out. Voices would come and go – as my opinions and beliefs did – but the only voices within hearing distance were the ones that echoed my own.
There is something super comforting about others agreeing with you, happily confined to our “us against them” mentality. We stay inside our bubbles and only listen to the people who make us feel good about our opinions. “See? We are all right.”
Mental high fives all around.
Life is lived easy in an echo chamber.
I just don’t believe that is what we were called to do. I believe we were called to reach across the aisle and try to understand what others are saying too. Life isn’t one big, clear window to look out. It’s more of a beautiful stained glass window with an intricate pattern that can only be seen from a higher perspective.
From your spot, you may look out and see everything from a rose colored tint. From mine, a yellow hue. Another may see the world out of the lens of royal blue. Sometimes we are wedged in a spot where the glass is bubbled and thick, which limits our clear view of anything. Our view colors our perspective of reality, and we become comfortable with only the people with our same view.
One fact is that we can always move to another spot of the stained glass window.