A RANT ABOUT IGNORANCE

What a shame it is that so many of us continue to wallow in the ignorance of self cherishing, thinking that we are so different or unique from anyone that doesn’t share our delusions. We are so willing to sacrifice any sense of decency, courtesy or kindness for the sake of some attitude, opinion or belief. We continue to build the wall of indifference and self grasping that flies in the face of common sense.

Our vapid sense of pride and arrogance is all too eager to skewer the heart of brotherly love and conviviality over the selfish fires of reactive emotions just to satisfy our desire to be right at the expense of making others wrong.

We portray ourselves as Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or other label of faith or not and yet continue to worship self-serving attitudes that are bias and prejudice based assumptions, stereotypes and judgments of liking and disliking to prop-up our self-made identity.

When we contribute to the delusion of hate and fan the winds of fear and loathing, we nurture the ground of terror whose fruit is intimidation, repression and suffering. The conflicts and conflagrations that keep flaring up will continue to rain down suffering and deprivation upon our increasingly crowded planet, not be resolved or transcended until we recognize that our survival is a shared one, that through conversation, not confrontation we will come to synthesis on what we can do to not just survive, but to thrive.

Each of us has a piece of the truth, each of us knows in our heart that hate cannot be overcome by hate, bigotry and prejudice cannot be cured by self-identified reactivity; these can only be muted, healed and transcended by love. We know that we are not perfect in how we show love to each other and yet we sense the truth that our hearts are perfectly joined in the spiritual unity that is made more sacred by the recognition of our basic human values of generosity, patience, honesty, acceptance and forbearance.

It is through respect, kindness, gentleness and tolerance to each other and to ourselves that we demonstrate this love. Strong feelings and passionate emotion have a place, but without the need to marginalize, demean or judge. If we take full responsibility for what we think and what we feel without having to make it about anything or anyone else, then we allow ourselves to grow in spirit. If we recognize that we all experience pain and suffering in exactly the same way then we respond to each others’ pain and suffering with understanding and compassion.

I feel that we have an obligation to ourselves and to each other to be as honest, accountable and fair as we can without having to compare or pass judgment on each other. If we aspire to be thoughtful and reflective in our quest for understanding, then we’ll be better able to express ourselves clearly and to listen deeply to one another. We may never agree on anything except that it’s okay to disagree, but without losing respect and good fellowship with each other.

May we practice this in our churches, synagogues, temples and mosques every week. May we practice this in our homes, in our workplace and our play space every day, and let this practice begin with our own mind.

We cannot achieve synthesis by insisting that I am right at the expense of making you wrong. We cannot progress and thrive in a climate that engenders hate, prejudice and separation for the sake of an idea, concept or belief. Bring forth what is constructive, helpful and beneficial, and let the rest diminish on its’ own. Seek solution through synthesis rather than antithesis; allow every voice to be heard without fear or recrimination. Our happiness, health, well-being and peace-of-mind lies in the faith, honesty and respect we have in ourselves and for each other.