(via Brian Kane)
1) Do I truly believe that everyone has the right to their own beliefs or lack thereof?
2) Can I respect the person, even though I may not respect their ideas?
3) Do I have the capacity to recognize my own fallacies?
4) Will it kill me if I were wrong?
5) Am I able to hold what I believe is truth lightly in the interest of dialog?
6) Can I overlook and maybe even appreciate the idiosyncrasies of others in order to hear what they have to say?
7) Am I willing to discern the deeper currents rather than being distracted by the surface ripples?
8) Can everyone play? In other words, will I not ostracize someone because of their beliefs or lack thereof?
9) Is personal harm to others the only prohibition I am willing to make?
10) Do I love all beings, and if not, am I willing?
It's been pointed out to me, on occasion and not without merit, that my writing can at times be somewhat...uh, pompous, intolerant, and self-absorbed. (Hey, I resemble that remark....) I suppose the flip side of passion is now and again succumbing to the temptation to pontificate and discount differing view points.
Guilty as charged. Hey, it's not like I set out to be intolerant, or an asshole, or just plain dismissive, but there are times when I feel pretty strongly about things. Actually, that's most of the time, come to think of it. Strictly speaking, this post was directed at religious types in an effort to get them to consider their often intolerant pursuit of "My Imaginary Friend Is Better Than Your Imaginary Friend". It could have been directed at me, though, and I've decided to take it in that vein. Intolerance and insensitivity can be (and in my case, generally is) non-denominational. I detest many aspects of the world as currently constituted, none moreso than the tendency towards virulent intolerance...unless, of course, I'm the one doing it. ;-)
In my never-ending quest to become a better human being, I'm trying to dial the passion back a bit. No, I'm not going to turn this into a knitting or a gardening blog, but I could stand to be a wee bit less dogmatic and reflexive. There really are times when I could benefit by just shutting up and listening instead of reacting. I may think...I may even KNOW...that I'm smarter than most, but the reality is that I'm as frequently blinded by my own brilliance as the next person.
No, I suppose it WOULDN'T kill me if I was...uh...uh...uh...wrong every now and then...would it?? No, it probably wouldn't...and being a bit more humble probably wouldn't result in my untimely demise, either. Time to see if this old dog can learn a few new tricks....
