The Task of Maturity - Transcending the Map

The task of the young (and what we do for them) is to break down complexity into its component parts for the sake of clarity and actionability. This is a crucial task. The problem comes when we see this as the only task, and we lose the value and nuance that comes from wholeness and paradox. In order to traverse the terrain, the map is critical. But in more abstract spheres of life, we end up treating the map as if it were the terrain, and this causes endless confusion and pain. Consider a Christian denomination. It must identify its fundamental beliefs. If it doesn't, it has no identity, and people can't be invited into it. Inevitably, people start treating the map (the list of fundamental beliefs) as the terrain, as the heart and soul of the religion, which it is not. Knowing this is why, at the outset, some people resisted reducing the religion to a list of beliefs in the first place. Next, and perennially, we have an overreaction on both sides, constantly pulling against each other. One faction, noticing the damage of treating the map (the beliefs) as the terrain, want to do away with the list of beliefs. The other faction, becoming overly defensive, treats the map more like the terrain than they ever did, and insists on the list as the means and the end. The realization that "the list is the map, and that the map serves a purpose, but that the map is not the terrain" has to be rediscovered and re-explained in a thousand conversations underneath and in between institutional structures, in pockets of informal insight, and in the highways and byways of nuanced conversations. The loudest voices, however, are the sponsored voices, and the institutional voices, and those voices tend to be polemic. The young are apt to miss the nuance, as it is their job to break down complexity, not resolve it, and the loudest voices point to binary camps of which the youth feel pressured to join (and champion). 

Much is both gained and lost in the dismembering of the whole into its component parts. It is the task of the mature to see both. It is the job of the mature to regain and demonstrate the value of transcending the map and experiencing the terrain for itself. This is needed in politics. We know intellectually that our party and our favorite politicians are not right about everything, but it's easier to treat their conclusions as a proxy for my own, especially when I see the world in zero sum terms and need weapons with which to fight my opponent (who is ruining America and threatening my identity). The task of maturity is to realize that it's not a competition. At its best, politics is about collaborating to solve our biggest problems, some of which stem from treating what should be a collaboration like a fight. The ease of taking someone else's already articulated position, and treating it as a way to earn points in what appears to be a game (or fight) is something we can allow among the young, while we look for opportunities to find a gentle and generous way to raise the tone and spirit of the conversation. But tragically, those who are considered advanced (due to age or status) may not have transcended the map, and they themselves may parrot the voices of the stridently orthodox, instead of seeing the tensions and paradoxes inherent in the nature of reality. The mature cannot see the whole of the terrain, just like the young cannot. But for them, the utility of the map has peaked, and they ought to bring to the table the necessary humility that is incumbent on anyone who is honest enough to let the terrain speak for itself (or at least have a voice at all). This is the task of the mature. 

Maturity does not mean never taking a side, but it does mean taking sides differently. It means not seeing the world through a lens of scarcity and competition, of dismemberment, of obvious and proven binary orthodoxies. Transcending the map means recognizing that most tensions cannot be resolved, and that the key is to find the right tensions to address at a given time, and to find a healthy and responsible place to occupy on the tension, given the imbalances of recent bias. Maturity means taking a side with the intention and spirit of collaboration and reconciliation, of compromise and of doing as much good as possible, no matter who gets the credit. 

This task of maturity and wisdom is important because of the pain caused by tenaciously holding on to flatland. When we continue by force to make everyone behave as if the map were perfect and flawless, humanity and dignity get destroyed along with the nuance, and structures of power tread on the vulnerable and "different' until those structures lose their legitimacy and eventually their power. The forced use of the map doesn't simply hurt society, it hurts the mapholder, who becomes increasingly estranged from others, and most tragically, from themselves.

The reason that many never mature (by this definition) is because the price of vulnerability and honesty is too high. The difficulty of transcending the map is too onerous, when using the map has served us well for so long. In fact, humans don't typically question the map at all unless forced, and unfortunately, the "force" involved is usually tragedy in some form. Sometimes the tragedy is just the acknowledgment of mortality and the loss of youth. Regardless, there can be a generativity on the far side of tragedy that allows the wise to reclaim the non-defensive and honest transcendence of the map. This can allow someone to truly see another human being for the first time, and to accept and truly love them. The wise can reclaim the value of the wholeness that was lost when we (by necessity) broke things down into their component parts for the sake of clarity and actionability. Something in your life needs to be put together again, and seen in its complete wholeness, along with the inherent complexity and paradox, for the sake of your relationship with God, with others, and yourself. What broken map in your life needs transcending?