I don’t listen to many podcasts, but there’s a few that I frequent — and most of them concern politics in one way or another. About once a month, one of my favorite podcasts brings in a certain political writer for a recurring segment. While I’m not always up-to-date on my podcasts, this monthly segment is a must-listen for me. The writer holds strongly to many views that I find difficult to understand and some that I find completely reprehensible … and this is precisely why I make a point of listening to him.

As I’m sure everyone reading this piece knows, our culture is becoming increasingly polarized. We so often live in bubbles of media carefully curated to support and nourish our own opinions and frames of mind, telling us that the “other” is in fact an “enemy.” We are less cognizant of our situatedness, forgetting that our experiences and education influence our perspectives and worldview. We are more likely to think we have an objective perspective on society — a “view from nowhere” — that causes us to elevate ourselves above others. Polarization strengthens the individual over the group, rewards tit-for-tat actions and continuously entrenches spite and vitriol toward the “other” more and more deeply into our brains. This is not a Christ-like way to live, but what can we do about it? The answer is simple: we must practice love and humility.

While the answer is simple, the work is very hard. Every human being has an innate bias towards their in-group — the social network where they feel they belong. Overcoming this instinct to let another speak while you listen is very difficult, but it is absolutely necessary, and it builds in a person the virtue of humility. Humility is of God and it connects us with Christ, who is the final arbiter of truth. It enables us to overcome our perceived “view from nowhere,” making us more tolerant and appreciative of our fellow humans. It enables us to say “I may disagree with you, but I appreciate the strength of your convictions and the reasoning behind them.” In short, humility is the beginning of a more Christ-like life.

When the first universities sprang up, they were known as a marketplace of ideas. Anyone could come and share their thoughts and ideas, and then these thoughts and ideas were discussed and debated in the public sphere. This free, open discussion and debate of new ideas was prized, since the creators of the universities were aware of their own situatedness and the potential that they had blind spots that others could see into.

It is my belief that we need to become a culture more akin to the original universities than to our social-media-driven bubbles of fear. When we listen to another person speak — even when that person is offering opinions that we find completely despicable — we learn more about ourselves and about the person we are listening to. We learn what they fear, what they love and what they are driven by. We learn what concerns them, what excites them and why such things evoke such emotions within them. We learn that they are more than just their beliefs; they are a fellow created human and a child of God.

So, what next? Perhaps you are thrilled by the concept of a second Trump presidency, or perhaps you are terrified. Perhaps you are a progressive Christian, or perhaps you are a conservative one. Whatever you think the biggest issue facing the world today is, remember that God is in control of it all. As the first question-and-answer of the Heidelberg Catechism states, “he will preserve you in such a way that without the will of your heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from your head.” The Lord will bless you and keep you, and until the day you go to meet him face to face, remember that your calling is to love all people — and in order to determine how best to love them, you should listen to them speak with the intent to understand who they are and where they come from.