In my circles:
What good is your education, when your education alienates you from those your education is meant to serve? Those whom you intend to serve fear the education you have received. Batman Returns said it best, "We fear what we don't understand." It's not supposed to be this way.
My education has provided me with the "tools" necessary to encounter a theological and biblical world, but my education forgot to build the "bridge" that was necessary to carry my "tools". I suppose its not entirely the fault of the school. I guess there are opportunities to learn to build that bridge. Yet, education often takes place in a vacuum. It takes place in a theoretical world of minutia, theories, and categories of thought that never quite fit as nicely in the "experiment" as they do in the "textbook."
Maybe it's not even the fault of the school. Maybe it's that world in which I was born. A world of divisive bantering over meaningless issues, though in that world, it must be understood, the issues are certainly not meaningless. A world of ABSOLUTE perfect understanding of all answers pertaining to all questions. Perspective has not found a place where I come from. Its black and white; social factors, unseen operable forces working behind the movements of that world pass unseen as they perceive the only possible reality. It's that idea that I have "THE TRUTH" rather than I have "Truth." They say, the way I perceive reality is the way reality has always been perceived by those who have passed on the torch of "TRUTH."
Disorientation is weakness, it is compromise, it is, in fact, sin when one has not a complete hold on the only possible perception of reality. We are people who perceive. When we perceive without perspective, we often perceive falsely. The world I was raised in cannot perceive a world where there are possible matters of differing opinions. Stability, Control, Fixed, Uniform: These are all qualities we desire for our reality, qualities which when absent send the mind into disorientation; a state of confusion, a state of anxiety; these are never desirable (such is natural to the human condition).
But if we think about it, this state is actually more helpful to the conditioning of a healthy mind. Though uncomfortable when unstable, humans often come to clearer pictures of reality when they encounter difficulty. It forces us the consider, to ponder, to reevaluate, to rethink, to see more clearly. So, why? Why do humans fear the qualities of disorientation? It should not be feared, humans naturally work toward a new orientation when disoriented.
Again, I return to my background. Disruption cannot be tolerated, or is, at least, only tolerated to minor degrees, for, again, it is "sin" to NOT have clear answers; that would raise the question about "TRUTH." Is truth real? Yes. Can I grasp all Truth at all times? No. So why do we pretend? Is there Truth outside of Christianity? Absolutely. Stated alternatively, Does Christianity contain ALL truth? No. Of course not, though it does seek to understand that Truth. So again, when I encounter differing opinions, I was trained to be skeptical. I was trained to believe that all consideration of possible alternative perceptions of reality were unhealthy and only lead to apostasy, the loss of my faith. My experience, however, has taught me differently. In encountering the "colors" of Truth I have found, not a black-and-white world of reality, but a world of color, a world hope, life, and freedom.
Is there danger in liberality of thinking? Of course, the human condition again is that after long, arduous hours of study we soon become proud of our divesting into the world of the mind. Intellectual pride and arrogance destroy any working relationships between "educated" and "uneducated." Knowledge is power, power creates classes, those with power and those without power. Those without power tend to be abused and taken advantage of by those with power. If, however, knowledge is accompanied by humility and grace, knowledge and education can create relationships which promote growth.
My question is, how can I return to my world, cause disorientation, disrupt order, yet, all the while, provide an environment for growth, and new orientation?