They Look Like Trees Walking: Learning to See People Clearly Again | Passed By | Chad Belew
When the world feels unsafe, the first thing we lose isn't our beliefs — it's our perception. We stop seeing faces and start seeing categories, threats, and labels: people who "look like trees walking around." In this raw, honest message, Chad names the fear, anger, and grief so many of us are carrying right now, then turns to the strange two-stage healing in Mark 8 — the one time Jesus has to touch a man's eyes twice — to make the case that seeing clearly is a process, not a failure. Drawing on Dietrich Bonhoeffer's "theory of stupidity" and Jesus' warning about the speck and the log, he shows how judgment blinds us while love restores sight. And he offers awe — not as a vibe, but as medicine and resistance — as the way to calm our nervous systems, lower the ego, and stay tender enough to keep fighting for justice without burning out.
In this episode:
- The Mark 8 healing where Jesus restores sight in two stages — and why partial sight is part of the process, not a failure
- Why fear, anger, and grief narrow our vision and turn people into "trees walking around"
- Bonhoeffer's "theory of stupidity": how fear and group pressure make us stop seeing rather than stop thinking
- Jesus on the speck and the log (Matthew 7) — how judgment distorts vision and love illuminates it
- Awe as medicine: lowering cortisol, softening the body, and acting as the counterweight to ego (Jonathan Haidt)
- A simple invitation: pause, breathe, and notice what's tightening inside you — so you can keep loving without being consumed
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