‘They’ve got that completely the wrong way around.’ I almost winced as I read the article, completely disagreeing with the perspective that was being outlined. The basics were correct, I felt but there was something decidedly ‘off’ about the way it was being put across. I read on regardless, listening to the running commentary in my mind… then winced in good earnest. This time at me.
By what right did I think I could judge another person’s perspective? Anyone can challenge facts if they have better information, but this was not a factual piece; it was an article on an aspect of spirituality, which, by its very nature, deals with the unseen and unknown. I may have the right to disagree with a belief or an opinion, just as I have a right to my own perspective… but I have no right to judge another to be wrong on such a subject, no matter how deep my own convictions may run.
How can we know? None of us can prove there is anything beyond this realm. None of us can prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that anything exists beyond what we are experiencing right here, right now, with our own physical senses. And even that is debateable, subjective and at the mercy of quantum physicists. We cannot even be sure that we exist in the way that we think we do.
We accept that we are solid beings in a physical world where walls are impenetrable and water is wet, all the while knowing that there is more space between the particles that make up everything in the universe, than there is solid matter. Even though, theoretically, our atoms should be able to pass through walls, we don’t try to walk through them. Experience says it doesn’t work.
But we all know that there are things beyond what we are seeing. I know my sons are in their homes as I write. I know the dog is sleeping in the hallway and that the sun will rise in the morning. I cannot see any of these things, but I know them to be true. I have learned from experience, and such things are part of my image of the world that has been built over time. If I doubted that experiential reality, how could I move through the world?
Continue reading at The Silent Eye
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
These posts are always enlightening and thought provoking.
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Thank you, Di.
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Reblogged this on Viv Drewa – The Owl Lady.
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Thank you very much for reblogging, Viv xx
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Thanks for reblogging, Michael.
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I grew up in what I can only call a cult, where people drew vehement lines against even those who by and large shared the same set of beliefs, differing only on minutiae—to say nothing of those whose beliefs were further “outside the lines.” Trivialities such as how water was applied to a body during rituals, the exact ingredients in communion implements (all bought at “secular” grocery stores, mind you), or how people styled their hair were all grounds for not only hatred but claims that “those people” were going to spend an eternity in torturous punishment away from their Creator.
The thing I could never figure out is how they all rectified their beliefs with the major teachings and principles of their own book:
“He who holds hatred in his heart is the same as a murderer.”
“Judge not or you will also be judged”
“Remove the log from your own eye before worrying about the splinter in someone else’s.”
“Love your neighbor as yourself.”
When it all comes down, when someone shouts to me about their beliefs, I ask, “Is it going to make you be nicer to people today, and tomorrow?” If the answer (stated or implied) is “No” … I’m not interested. I won’t try to persuade such a person to believe any differently. I can only say, “How you live and treat others does not match your written system of beliefs.”
Regardless of one’s beliefs, I’ve never observed hatred in any of its forms to win anyone over to them. As you aptly noted, Sue, “The only ‘proof’ you can offer is how you live your life.”
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I wasluck be raised in a spiritually eclectic environment, where the only thing that mattered was what the heart held, but I have seen enough prejudice and hatred to know it serves no useful purpose. Not can you force faith in another.
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Love you you framed this. 😀
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Oh bugger … ‘love how you framed this’. 😀
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😀 😀
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Thank you 🙂
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