Realism Or Delusion - You Say Tomato, I Say Tomahhto
Everyone is entitled to their beliefs.
Lord knows, we all have them.
And some are more prone to expounding than others.
Religious zealots, political activists, animal rights activists, parents, preachers, teachers, gurus..
..
on and on the list goes.
Everybody's got their beliefs, which leads to their opinions, which leads to the constant tug-of-war.
My way is right; yours is wrong.
Push, push, push.
Tug, tug, tug.
I know.
I used to be one of them.
So I know how passionate folks can get when they're trying to convince you of their 'rightness' and your 'wrongness'.
Case in point: I have an Aunt who is a "New Christian" (these are her words, not mine.
) From the beginning of her new-found faith, every time we'd speak she would always ask, "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your lord and saviour?" Back then (this was quite a few years ago) I was still very much ANTI-religion.
That is to say any religion was, in my personal opinion, a bunch of baloney.
They all carried with them the same commonality: There is only ONE god.
And it's the one I found through...
(insert religious tenet here).
Hmmmmmmmm.
Well then, I'd ask, if there is only one god, why do you get so riled up when someone calls it by a different name? Or honors it in a different way? Or practices that devotion differently than you do? Why does it matter, if there is only ONE? Each time we'd talk, we'd go through this same scenario, until I got so bored I decided I had to find an alternative to this agonizing repetition.
(It kind of reminded me of that movie, "Groundhog Day".
GEEZ.
) So, one day, rather than responding as I always did (I'll spare you that part) I asked her my own question: "Is there any way I could ever convince YOU that your beliefs are 'wrong' and mine are 'right'?" BINGO.
There was a very pregnant pause, after which she simply replied, "No.
" "So then, how about we call a truce? How about you do your thing with your god, and let me do mine.
How about, if you're so utterly certain that I'm going to hell because of my beliefs, how 'bout you just keep praying for my soul and let's leave it at that? Since you're so certain that only Jesus can save me, how 'bout we leave it up to him?" We never spoke about it again.
Sadly, the phone calls also got less and less frequent and when we did speak, they were short and tense.
It's been more than 3 months since our last call.
Guess she decided to leave it up to Jesus after all.
Anyway, something else has come to my attention lately and it's got me all fired up (again!).
No...
not about religion.
That was just an example of how resistance people are to change...
of any kind.
(It also happens to be the most volatile...
for most folks.
) I'm a big fan of evolution.
That is to say, I choose to believe that we are ALL evolving...
all the time.
Some of those evolutions are for our "greater good".
Some...
not so much.
Technology can be as beneficial as it can be destructive.
From the first formula (E=MC2) to the making of the first atom bomb...
all the way to our current abuse of cellular technology (text messages? internet addictions? Online pornography? You get my drift.
) some evolutions are leading us to our demise, while others are leading us to a more unified planet.
Just depends on who you listen to or where you choose to focus your attention.
Either way, evolutions are inevitable.
We either evolve or we self-destruct.
So today I was led to a site where I found a video by a woman named Barbara Ehrenreich.
She is an "acclaimed journalist, author and political activist".
In this video she talks about how the 'trend' of positive thinking is "utterly delusional.
" It is the reason we're in the mess we're in.
We have turned from realism to this fairy tale of an idea that if we think positive thoughts we can change our world.
She also goes on to bad-mouth physics (both 'quantum' and otherwise) even though in her next breath she states that she is no scientist.
Yet she finds the claims of physicists and other 'new age' teachers to be our one-way ticket to hell.
It's their fault that people are so lazy.
It's their fault that folks are escaping 'reality' and holing up in some candle-lit room to meditate on peace.
The world is going to hell in a handbasket, and it's all because of "positive thinking".
HUH? The fact that I actually watched the whole video (10:22 in length) tells me that I still have a bit of an inner masochist to deal with.
(grin) But for some reason I just had to see it to the end.
Maybe it was my Inner Optimist hoping she'd come full circle.
Maybe I was hoping she'd make some kind of helpful point.
Or maybe I was just lookin' for a fight.
Whatever the case, I watched it to the end...
and then I posted a comment (how could I NOT?!), asking her how she thought this lecture might be serving anyone.
In what way did any of this contribute to a better world? (What I really wanted to say was, "Too bad you've got your head so far up your butt that you can't see past your own narrow 'reality'.
" But I didn't (say that).
Yea for me.
) And then I got even more fired up.
Because I went and read more about her...
(there's that inner masochist again.
) and was bummed to find just how much of an audience she has.
Can't help but wonder who those folks are either.
Bottom line is this: If we use the power of positive thought to shift from a less-than-joyful place, how is this delusional? If we use this power to change anything for the better, how is this delusional? What you call 'reality' may not be anything like my version.
But if we're doing the best we can to make our lives and the world a better place, how can that be construed as anything 'bad'? We are all entitled to our beliefs.
And our opinions.
And our methods of practicing said beliefs/opinions.
What may serve all of us a bit more is to remember that we need not prove anyone wrong in order to be right.
We need not push our beliefs on others, nor condemn them for theirs.
We DO need to respect each other well enough to live and let live.
Whether you believe that 'positive thinking' is delusional or not, the choice still remains with the individual.
If you don't want me kickin' on your stuff, quit kickin' on mine.
Lord knows, we all have them.
And some are more prone to expounding than others.
Religious zealots, political activists, animal rights activists, parents, preachers, teachers, gurus..
..
on and on the list goes.
Everybody's got their beliefs, which leads to their opinions, which leads to the constant tug-of-war.
My way is right; yours is wrong.
Push, push, push.
Tug, tug, tug.
I know.
I used to be one of them.
So I know how passionate folks can get when they're trying to convince you of their 'rightness' and your 'wrongness'.
Case in point: I have an Aunt who is a "New Christian" (these are her words, not mine.
) From the beginning of her new-found faith, every time we'd speak she would always ask, "Have you accepted Jesus Christ as your lord and saviour?" Back then (this was quite a few years ago) I was still very much ANTI-religion.
That is to say any religion was, in my personal opinion, a bunch of baloney.
They all carried with them the same commonality: There is only ONE god.
And it's the one I found through...
(insert religious tenet here).
Hmmmmmmmm.
Well then, I'd ask, if there is only one god, why do you get so riled up when someone calls it by a different name? Or honors it in a different way? Or practices that devotion differently than you do? Why does it matter, if there is only ONE? Each time we'd talk, we'd go through this same scenario, until I got so bored I decided I had to find an alternative to this agonizing repetition.
(It kind of reminded me of that movie, "Groundhog Day".
GEEZ.
) So, one day, rather than responding as I always did (I'll spare you that part) I asked her my own question: "Is there any way I could ever convince YOU that your beliefs are 'wrong' and mine are 'right'?" BINGO.
There was a very pregnant pause, after which she simply replied, "No.
" "So then, how about we call a truce? How about you do your thing with your god, and let me do mine.
How about, if you're so utterly certain that I'm going to hell because of my beliefs, how 'bout you just keep praying for my soul and let's leave it at that? Since you're so certain that only Jesus can save me, how 'bout we leave it up to him?" We never spoke about it again.
Sadly, the phone calls also got less and less frequent and when we did speak, they were short and tense.
It's been more than 3 months since our last call.
Guess she decided to leave it up to Jesus after all.
Anyway, something else has come to my attention lately and it's got me all fired up (again!).
No...
not about religion.
That was just an example of how resistance people are to change...
of any kind.
(It also happens to be the most volatile...
for most folks.
) I'm a big fan of evolution.
That is to say, I choose to believe that we are ALL evolving...
all the time.
Some of those evolutions are for our "greater good".
Some...
not so much.
Technology can be as beneficial as it can be destructive.
From the first formula (E=MC2) to the making of the first atom bomb...
all the way to our current abuse of cellular technology (text messages? internet addictions? Online pornography? You get my drift.
) some evolutions are leading us to our demise, while others are leading us to a more unified planet.
Just depends on who you listen to or where you choose to focus your attention.
Either way, evolutions are inevitable.
We either evolve or we self-destruct.
So today I was led to a site where I found a video by a woman named Barbara Ehrenreich.
She is an "acclaimed journalist, author and political activist".
In this video she talks about how the 'trend' of positive thinking is "utterly delusional.
" It is the reason we're in the mess we're in.
We have turned from realism to this fairy tale of an idea that if we think positive thoughts we can change our world.
She also goes on to bad-mouth physics (both 'quantum' and otherwise) even though in her next breath she states that she is no scientist.
Yet she finds the claims of physicists and other 'new age' teachers to be our one-way ticket to hell.
It's their fault that people are so lazy.
It's their fault that folks are escaping 'reality' and holing up in some candle-lit room to meditate on peace.
The world is going to hell in a handbasket, and it's all because of "positive thinking".
HUH? The fact that I actually watched the whole video (10:22 in length) tells me that I still have a bit of an inner masochist to deal with.
(grin) But for some reason I just had to see it to the end.
Maybe it was my Inner Optimist hoping she'd come full circle.
Maybe I was hoping she'd make some kind of helpful point.
Or maybe I was just lookin' for a fight.
Whatever the case, I watched it to the end...
and then I posted a comment (how could I NOT?!), asking her how she thought this lecture might be serving anyone.
In what way did any of this contribute to a better world? (What I really wanted to say was, "Too bad you've got your head so far up your butt that you can't see past your own narrow 'reality'.
" But I didn't (say that).
Yea for me.
) And then I got even more fired up.
Because I went and read more about her...
(there's that inner masochist again.
) and was bummed to find just how much of an audience she has.
Can't help but wonder who those folks are either.
Bottom line is this: If we use the power of positive thought to shift from a less-than-joyful place, how is this delusional? If we use this power to change anything for the better, how is this delusional? What you call 'reality' may not be anything like my version.
But if we're doing the best we can to make our lives and the world a better place, how can that be construed as anything 'bad'? We are all entitled to our beliefs.
And our opinions.
And our methods of practicing said beliefs/opinions.
What may serve all of us a bit more is to remember that we need not prove anyone wrong in order to be right.
We need not push our beliefs on others, nor condemn them for theirs.
We DO need to respect each other well enough to live and let live.
Whether you believe that 'positive thinking' is delusional or not, the choice still remains with the individual.
If you don't want me kickin' on your stuff, quit kickin' on mine.
