Posted by Bill R on August 02, 2000 at 20:05:35:
In Reply to: Re: For all those who ponder...About Charities & Polarities posted by MMMMarcia on August 02, 2000 at 18:17:49:
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: : Now, YOURS is a good post Elaine........I have read it three times in an effort to try and take it all in......and now I am trying to collect my thoughts in an effort to post a halfway coherent response!
: : I am always fascinated by people who are 'true believers' (for want of a better expression). I find it hard to understand the need to attach oneself to a named group, and I also find it hard to separate the 'wrongdoings' of a religion from its achievements. For example, I cannot reconcile the teachings of the Catholic Church with its immense wealth and power, or the fatwas (death sentences) advocated by Islamic leaders. I consider myself a religious person, I believe in God, try to follow a true and honest path, treat others as I would wish to be treated etc etc. I do not feel the need to affiliate myself with anyone other than God and have yet to find someone who can satisfactorily explain that need to me.
: : In short, I do agree with Bill that, although birds of a feather flock together, we should be working towards bringing down some of those barriers, rather than perpetuating them. When people stay within their own groups, whether they be ethnic, religious or otherwise, it does not always make them stronger, sometimes it just serves to alienate them from the rest of the community, providing ammunition to the more ignorant outsiders. When one sees a demonstration supporting, say, racial equality, do you not feel that the message is far more forceful when the demonstrators are made up of people of all colours? It is as if the combination suggests a majority, rather than minority, cause.
: : Have I gone off the subject?! Probably! Like you, I hope that MY post will not be considered offensive, for as far as I am concerned, it is the heart of an individual that interests me, not their race, colour or religion.
: : Phew!
: : Adele
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: Adele, for what it's worth, I find myself in complete agreement with you, here. Even to your expressions of how you view your relationship with God. I don't discuss my personal religious beliefs very often, because they are not what you might call maintstream. I consider myself a spiritual person, rather than a religious one, as I have never found a church that teaches more than PART of what I believe to be true, and I will not join any church that teaches things I cannot imagine to be God's will, and many of them do. So, like you, I have established my own relationship with my Higher Power, and it works for me.
: When discussing polarity, however, far be it from me to ever imply we should all think alike, join the same church, follow the same path through life, or avoid deep attachments to family & loved ones. I assumed when we were using the term, we meant the excessive form of polarity which so often divides people & pushes them apart, rather than allowing them to maintain their cultural and ethnic differences, while celebrating all the things humans have in common with each other. I've said it before, and I'll say it again...human beings share more similarities than they do differences. That doesn't mean we don't cherish the things that make us unique, or that distinguish our heritage. It just means we should never allow those differences to become walls between nations, cultures, races, or religious groups. That was MY thinking in regard to polarity, and how I interpreted Bill's post. (Bill??)
: Given the opportunity, I'm for kicking down the barriers every time I find them. I saw it that way then, and I see it that way now.
: MMMMarcia
Marcia,
Yup, that was my thinking. To include what I meant by polarity.
In other words...as you said.
There is a very great distinction between differences and polarity in my head. Differences exist. I applaud them and worship them.
It's when differences become polarities that the trouble begins.
I was not attacking any person, thought about my post and figured it might be construed as attacking a person or belief.
The fact that I can't subscribe to something in a belief structure is no reason to attack it....until that belief structure pre-supposes superiority or an "I'm better than you" mentality.
Bill R