Wednesday, June 05, 2013

How to acquire DOUBLE VISION


Power at its best is love
implementing the demands of justice.
Justice at its best is love
correcting everything that stands against love.

-  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.


Who do you see?  A beautiful young woman, or a not-so-beautiful, old woman?

"Double Vision"
"Oppression and Justice"

(Chapter V of Exclusion and Embrace, Miroslav Volf)

"Conflicting parties need to practice what Hannah Arendt calls an 'enlarged way of thinking'"... 

"or, as I will call it 'double vision'... we enlarge our thinking by letting the voices and perspectives of others, especially those with whom we may be in conflict, resonate within ourselves, by allowing them to help us see them, as well as ourselves, from their perspectives.  Nothing can guarantee in advance that the perspectives will ultimately merge and agreement be reached.  We may find that we must reject the perspective of the other.  Yet we should seek to see things from their perspective in the hope that competing justices may become converging justices and eventually issue in agreement."

"Stricken with the sense of sinfulness, should we withdraw from making judgments and working for justice? Abdication of responsibility will be tempting to those who only know how to live in a world neatly divided into territories of pure light and of utter darkness.  But no such world exists, except in the imagination of the self-righteous; the construction of such a world is itself an act of injustice.  In a world shot through with injustice, the struggle for justice must be carried on by people inescapably tainted by injustice. Hence the importance of 'double vision.' We need to see our judgments about justice and our struggle against injustice through the eyes of the other--even the manifestly 'unjust other'--and be willing to readjust our understanding of justice and repent of acts of injustice." 




5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Theary Seng - probably an educated person, patriot...etc but so full of herself! She will be doomed by her ego unfortunately. I wonder if she cares more to outreach to fellow cambodians (maybe a bit difficult with her not been very fluent in Khmer)or to show off with occidental audience... Still better that then most of the ignorant and crude immoral CPP cadres. Sokha was also quite disappointing with his latest remarks on KR. Sure it was twisted and exploited by CPP but he did say some stupid things also. Mu Sohua (what's the right spelling?) still the absolute model of integrity with Son Chay and others. Sam Rainsy is lucky to have them...

Anonymous said...

The first time I saw that picture, it was an old woman to me, and then It also appeared as a young woman also. Now, I only see a young woman no matter how I try to see the old woman. I guess my vision is now distorted or biased?

Anonymous said...

កក្តាន់ទេតើ!

Anonymous said...

Does Seng Theary is a Youn spy or a Khmers supporter?

What is true within takes form without!

Anonymous said...

Theary កក្តាន់ Youn or Hun XXXXXX !