Category: Tolerance

How Tolerant Are You? – Day 194 of 365 Days to a Better You

Helen Keller once remarked, “Tolerance is the greatest result of education.” As we’ve discussed before, the societal environment we collectively create helps to create us. The sharpening of disagreement and the coarsening of dialogue in our culture creates a tumultuous environment that is counterproductive to our betterment.

You may believe you have the spiritual truth of the ages or the right political philosophy for the moment, but is it necessary for everyone else to be wrong so you can be right? Is it necessary to shout down your opponents or make them evil?

Couldn’t you broaden your mind to the idea that we all show up here like blank slates and that most of what you know or think you know is just what other people have told you?

What if you gave others the benefit of the doubt? What if you accepted there’s more than one way to see life or find the truth?

Is that really so subversive? Is it possible there are things you don’t know and experiences you haven’t had that may account for the reasonable conclusions other have reached about life?

Maybe, just maybe, you and I should take a step back from our moral surety and superiority and recognize that others are doing the best they can with what they know.

Yes! You should share your ideas, but can’t you do it in the spirit of finding the best solutions rather than merely winning an argument? Can you acknowledge others have pieces of the puzzle you lack?

This, I believe, is the evolved tolerance Helen Keller was talking about. What a better world and a better us it would be if this mindset replaced the din of vitriol and one-upsmanship that permeates our dialogue today.

I love you all! Go out and be your best self today!

Ray

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The “I” Problem

Today’s Thought:
The tribe says, “Pick a side.” The wise say, “Been there. Done that.”

We awaken each day with a default setting that we are the center of the universe. That mindset is represented by the word “I”. “I want this” and “I want that”. “I think this” and “I think that”. “I believe this” and “I believe that”.

Generally, the thought “I” (or we) immediately creates a thought “they”. We differentiate “them” from me/we based on a myriad of superficial appearances and differences of opinion – religious classifications, political classifications, ethnic classifications, status classifications, physical characteristics, and gender differences.

We create whole mental frameworks around these differences, always with the base assumption that me/we are correct and “they” are incorrect. Why do you support a certain sports team? More than likely, it’s because you were born in a certain city or your family has ties to that city. There is nothing inherently better about the Yankees or the Red Sox. What creates that distinction is “I”. You, your mindsets, your filters are the only difference between the two.

From this mental framework, we create a moral code that says me/we is good and “they” are bad. Our belief system is not only correct, it is the only correct belief system. That makes your belief system wrong. Show me one Muslim who thinks Christians are have it right and Muslims have it wrong. Show me one Republican who thinks Democrats have it right and Republicans have it wrong. Show me one Chinese citizen who thinks the disputed islands with Japan really belong to Japan or vice versa.

What makes the Yankees better than the Red Sox, Islam better than Christianity, Republicans better than Democrats, China more entitled to some islands than Japan? With rare exception, it has to do with who you are, who your family is, where you were born. Your “I” became indoctrinated by Hinduism, Red Sox fan, Japanese, or Democrat by the people around you.

Your tribe passed those mindsets on to you and you consciously or unconsciously adopted them. They all became part of your “I”. And where did the tribe get them? Well, they received them through the same process. Generation after generation believing something “because we always have”.

This all kicks in automatically each morning with our first thought….”I”. This unconscious acceptance of “my/our way” over “your way” has been the human norm for thousands of years. Teachers have periodically come along and taught bigger, broader ideas about who we are in the world, but the tribe generally persecutes and eventually does away with such heretics.

The only way to improve ourselves in this regard is to become conscious of the process. We must carefully and consciously choose our “I” and allow others the freedom to choose theirs too. It’s inevitable that we will not all agree. ” But, you know what? It’s amazing how much evil disappears from our world when we stop counting those who simply disagree with us as evil.

Follow your bliss. Experience your bliss. Become your bliss.
Ray

Ray Davis is the Founder of The Affirmation Spot and focuses on empowering minds to think positively, achieve goals, and live dreams.

He is the author of the Anunnaki Awakening series (2015). Book 1 – Revelation – is now available in paperback and on Kindle. This trilogy takes Ancient Aliens out of the past and into the present. An interstellar, interdimensional journey ensues with humanity’s future hanging in the balance.