I love this image because one of the Internet’s favorite ways of insulting people is through some version of “You live in a bubble.” The obvious insinuation is, Your world is small; therefore your thoughts and ideas are small (unlike mine). I watched one such interaction unfold on Twitter this morning. Jonah Goldberg, the senior editor of the conservative magazine National Review, tweeted the link to his latest column (which I found to be a thoughtful analysis), and a reader responded with a flurry of derogatory tweets, including, “[the] only voices of anger are disgruntled antiTrump right and apoplectic AltLeft.” Jonah then quoted the above tweet and commented, “Things you say when you’re in a bubble, for $1,000.” Not to be outdone, the reader retorted, “lol said the ever erudite elitist writer in his glass bubble hahahahahaha.”

It’s never been more (dys)fun(ctional) to spar with our ideological opponents.

I’m convinced now more than ever that if I want the world around me to change, then the change has to start with me.  Social activists often invoke the words, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world” and attribute it to Gandhi, often as a rallying cry for their activism.  What’s interesting is Gandhi never said that. What he did say was,

That’s much more akin to Jesus’ rebuke: “Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye.” (Matthew 7:5)

So let me talk about the log in my own eye. I have been guilty countless times of sanctimoniously dismissing certain people who see the world differently than I do of living in bubbles, as if I did not. That, of course, is hypocrisy.

Anyone who is not omnipresent and omniscient like God necessarily lives in a bubble. In fact, existing as finite, created beings dependent on an omniscient God is an essential aspect of being human. “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.” (Psalm 16:6) “You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me.” (Psalm 139:5)

Our beliefs and opinions are nurtured in part by our willingness/unwillingness to grow and expand, making some “bubbles” bigger than others; but ultimately, they’re limited by, well, the limits of our existence. You live, I live, we all live in bubbles. Embracing the inescapable reality of these limitations should help us realize that we are all dependent on each other – especially those of other tribes – in order for the collective to keep growing in knowledge and understanding of the world we all share. There’s nothing negotiable about our interdependence. It simply is. That’s why political and tribal conflicts cause so much distress. The only thing that’s negotiable is our willingness to perceive, accept, and lean into it in a way that will bring life instead of death.