mea culpa...
I need to clean a few things up. I've been a bit of a secularist fundamentalist and I wish to correct that. I have absolutely no idea whether there is a god or not. I do believe there is some form of higher "something" e.g. consciousness, intelligence, awareness. That's as far as I will go.
Also, having been scathing of religious extremists, particularly those of Christian, Zionist and Moslem flavours, I now need to add to that list secular extremists, i.e. those who would ban or outlaw all religions or spiritual practices.
I think understanding, acceptance and tolerance of others' beliefs is now more important than ever before if we are to find peaceful solutions to what's going down right now on this planet.
The problem is extremism and that is caused by fundamentalism and absolutism. We need to become more moderate, more tolerant of those whose beliefs differ from ours. More Buddha-like, more Jesus-like, more Gandhi-like, more Mandela-like, more Kofi-Annan-like.
We need to recognise that those who preach extremist, fundamentalist, or absolutist doctrines are "false prophets" so to speak. They sow seeds of division and hate.
Anger is another problem. Whilst anger is understandable in times of great injustice, we must learn to channel it away from the urge it produces for extremist views or "solutions". It is especially important during periods of anger not to give in to the urge to hate, but to reaffirm our commitment to understanding, acceptance and tolerance and to seek moderate solutions, not extreme ones; peaceful solutions, not war. War is never the right way to go.
I hope this clarifies and corrects some of the things I've said earlier in this blog. Can I live up to these lofty ideals? Maybe when I reach sainthood or satori. At the moment I'm flat-out just getting an occasional glimpse of all this stuff. In the meantime I do know that I will never resort to killing another person, or justifying the killing of another person, ever again. That'll have to do for now.
Also, having been scathing of religious extremists, particularly those of Christian, Zionist and Moslem flavours, I now need to add to that list secular extremists, i.e. those who would ban or outlaw all religions or spiritual practices.
I think understanding, acceptance and tolerance of others' beliefs is now more important than ever before if we are to find peaceful solutions to what's going down right now on this planet.
The problem is extremism and that is caused by fundamentalism and absolutism. We need to become more moderate, more tolerant of those whose beliefs differ from ours. More Buddha-like, more Jesus-like, more Gandhi-like, more Mandela-like, more Kofi-Annan-like.
We need to recognise that those who preach extremist, fundamentalist, or absolutist doctrines are "false prophets" so to speak. They sow seeds of division and hate.
Anger is another problem. Whilst anger is understandable in times of great injustice, we must learn to channel it away from the urge it produces for extremist views or "solutions". It is especially important during periods of anger not to give in to the urge to hate, but to reaffirm our commitment to understanding, acceptance and tolerance and to seek moderate solutions, not extreme ones; peaceful solutions, not war. War is never the right way to go.
I hope this clarifies and corrects some of the things I've said earlier in this blog. Can I live up to these lofty ideals? Maybe when I reach sainthood or satori. At the moment I'm flat-out just getting an occasional glimpse of all this stuff. In the meantime I do know that I will never resort to killing another person, or justifying the killing of another person, ever again. That'll have to do for now.
posted by The Editor at
5:19 AM
4 Comments:
I woke up in the middle of the night and realised I'd been mulling this stuff over in my sleep for quite some time. Having woken up, I knew I would not be able to get back to sleep until I posted it. So I did. And who knows, one day I might be able to practise what I preach. They say we teach best that which we most need to learn. :-)
Yes, nicely put, Gerry, and you do sound a bit more relaxed.
Believing that "there is some form of a higher something" (even if you don't call it "god") strikes me as a slightly dangerous view; it's called "faith". No harm in it so long as you keep it as vague as that and are careful not to let it develop into a full-blown religious belief.
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I goofed. Good to see you here Tony. Yes, it's easy to get "religious" about one's beliefs. But what sort of a world would it be if we weren't passionate about our beliefs. There are so few absolute truths to get passionate about. That leaves us only our beliefs.
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